Missing Sven Kramer!

This year’s speed skating season came, I saw it and forgot it. I didn’t fell of my chair by amazement of fast times, groundbreaking world records and performances of supernatural talent. Of course, there was some excitement thanks to Christine Nesbitt, Ireen Wüst and stuff, but still… no actual historical moments occurred.

This is primarily caused by the absence of Sven Kramer, Olympic Champion and former World Champion All-Round, who extremely spoiled us in the previous seasons. Each time when you thought: he can’t go any faster (something rarely happens because with Sven the feeling always exist that we might haven’t seen nothing yet), he did go enormously faster. He set new boundaries to cross. And even when he didn’t win (also something that really rarely occurred), it was again spectacle (disqualification or fall). Never a dull moment.

But without him, the season seemed, for me, like tomato soup without tomato. Quite fun that Ivan Skobrev won those prices, but hey, Sven skated like seven to ten seconds faster on those tracks, so man he would have kicked your ass if he was participating. But he wasn’t participating, some mysterious injury got him off the ice the entire season. Now finally, something is revealed about this mysterious injury. It is a nerve problem in his upper leg and finally on February 17^th of 2011, we got the news that Sven could skate on ice again. Thank God!

Groundbreaking news for speed skating loving Holland, I can assure you. We have been in complete insecurity about his situation and that fed the speculations made by the press: is the TVM method devastating his physics (just like it did by Wüst in 2007 and Van Deutekom in 2009 and 2010)? Is he just enjoying a long holiday to recover of the disappointments and efforts of the Olympics in Vancouver to be returned in a shape as never before next season? Or is he so dramatically injured that he might will never skate again, or at least never can skate at the level he used to?

All though I am desperately longing for spring, I still have a small hope for very freezing weather. So there might be an Elfstedentocht (epic ice skating journey of almost 200 km in length through eleven cities in the Dutch province of Friesland). Because Sven always assured us that he would turn everything off to participate in that historical race. So to know what Sven Kramer can or will bring us, that could reveal it.

Let’s hope he can bring real excitement and amazement back on the ice track next season and let’s wait and see if the speed skaters of this moment can break his world records in Salt Lake City this weekend.