It's a bit early for a new season's thread, but I've seen quite a few others passing me by, so I think it's time to also start a new one about Dutch Figure Skating.
After the strange but actually quite successful season 2020-2021 for Dutch skaters, it's a nice moment to reflect on them. There are skaters in all disciplines now, although I'm not sure whether the one man will continue.
For now the 'Dutch senior team' consists of the following skaters - if at all possible I will add some comments. There are Fanfests for most of them. My sources are from everywhere, mostly from the website www.schaatsen.nl and also the German Magazine Pirouette that tends to have more information about less well known European skaters than International Figure Skating (which obviously is also a source). Wikipedia is also important as are ISU Bios.
Pairs.
There are two pairs. This is an enormous luxury, as we haven't had pairs at the senior international level in many years.
Daria Danilova/Michel Tsiba - the first Dutch Pair ever to go to a Worlds Championships (in 2021).
Nika Osipova/Dmitry Epstein - a relatively new Pair that could only partake in one competition last season, but they've got their minimum TES for the SP.
Men
Thomas Kennes - Thomas has been on the scene for quite some time, has taken part in multiple European Championships but it is uncertain whether he will continue. There was an upcoming junior (Didier Dijkstra) but it seems he regrettably had to quit because of the cost.
Ice Dance
We have another luxury in that we now have two ID Teams at the international level.
Hannah Jakucs and Alessio Galli - originally representing Hungary they are now skating for The Netherlands. They had some problems last season, but I'm sure they will be back on the scene this season.
Chelsea Verhaegh and Sherim van Geffen - they haven't been skating together long but had a bit of a dream season despite all the Covid-19 issues. They managed to skate at the World Championships 2021 which they hadn't expected at the start of the season.
Women
Lindsay van Zundert - Lindsay was the hero of last season for us Dutchies. She managed to qualify a spot for The Netherlands at the upcoming OG. The last time there was a Dutch skater was in 1976.
Niki Wories - Niki has been around for quite a while and has been to both European and World Championships in the past. Alas, she has been hampered by injuries the last few years. She would have gone to the WC in 2020 but as everyone knows it was cancelled, and her rival managed to get to the one in 2021 instead. However, she is still very much in the game and training hard for the upcoming season.
I am less knowledgeable about the juniors but there definitely are some girls up and coming there as well whom I hope we will see at some JGPs.
After the strange but actually quite successful season 2020-2021 for Dutch skaters, it's a nice moment to reflect on them. There are skaters in all disciplines now, although I'm not sure whether the one man will continue.
For now the 'Dutch senior team' consists of the following skaters - if at all possible I will add some comments. There are Fanfests for most of them. My sources are from everywhere, mostly from the website www.schaatsen.nl and also the German Magazine Pirouette that tends to have more information about less well known European skaters than International Figure Skating (which obviously is also a source). Wikipedia is also important as are ISU Bios.
Pairs.
There are two pairs. This is an enormous luxury, as we haven't had pairs at the senior international level in many years.
Daria Danilova/Michel Tsiba - the first Dutch Pair ever to go to a Worlds Championships (in 2021).
Nika Osipova/Dmitry Epstein - a relatively new Pair that could only partake in one competition last season, but they've got their minimum TES for the SP.
Men
Thomas Kennes - Thomas has been on the scene for quite some time, has taken part in multiple European Championships but it is uncertain whether he will continue. There was an upcoming junior (Didier Dijkstra) but it seems he regrettably had to quit because of the cost.
Ice Dance
We have another luxury in that we now have two ID Teams at the international level.
Hannah Jakucs and Alessio Galli - originally representing Hungary they are now skating for The Netherlands. They had some problems last season, but I'm sure they will be back on the scene this season.
Chelsea Verhaegh and Sherim van Geffen - they haven't been skating together long but had a bit of a dream season despite all the Covid-19 issues. They managed to skate at the World Championships 2021 which they hadn't expected at the start of the season.
Women
Lindsay van Zundert - Lindsay was the hero of last season for us Dutchies. She managed to qualify a spot for The Netherlands at the upcoming OG. The last time there was a Dutch skater was in 1976.
Niki Wories - Niki has been around for quite a while and has been to both European and World Championships in the past. Alas, she has been hampered by injuries the last few years. She would have gone to the WC in 2020 but as everyone knows it was cancelled, and her rival managed to get to the one in 2021 instead. However, she is still very much in the game and training hard for the upcoming season.
I am less knowledgeable about the juniors but there definitely are some girls up and coming there as well whom I hope we will see at some JGPs.