Dutch newsreel from 1979 about the winter period including at the end scenes from both a women's short track race in Genemuiden won by Anneke Zeinstra, and a horse-drawn sleigh race
Kortebaanschaatsen (short track skating) refers to an old form of Dutch ice skating tournament that goes back to the 18th century.[1] It is not to be confused with the modern speed skating sport known as short track speed skating. The sport is similar to harness racing (known as kortebaandraverijen) and is similarly set up in two straight lanes of 160 meters.
History
Since 1805 women's kortebaanschaatsen is held over a distance of 140 meters.[2] In the first race held for women in 1805 in Leeuwarden won by Trijntje Pieters Westra, the women were "just as fast as the horses", which referred to a previous kortebaandraverij that had been held previously that week with sleighs instead of wheeled sulkies.[3] The full list of women participants with their ages and addresses was published in an account by Evert Maaskamp.[4] The women's sport was popular because the women were skating with bare arms and were seen to be unusually talented and strong. A print was made that became popular, that was accompanied by another engraving with a commemorative descriptive text.[3]
The first Dutch national champions were for men Thijs Klompmaker (1926) and for women Sjoukje Bouma (1933).
First women's race in Leeuwarden in 1805, won by Trijntje Pieters Westra
Women's race in Leeuwarden in 1809, won by Houkje Gerrits Bouma
Race in Hindeloopen in 1828
Competitions
Dutch National Kortebaan Speed Skating Championships
Modern kortebaanschaatsen
Outdoor skating track in Venhuizen, named after Teun Sluis
Today most large Dutch cities have indoor skating rinks, and the rise of speed skating as a sport has enabled many young skaters to learn early how to skate through turns, which was never necessary on kortebaan tracks. With shorter and shorter periods of frost, fewer and fewer kortebaan sprint tournaments were held, which caused the creation of the indoor sprint alternative now known as KNSB Dutch Super Sprint Championships.[5]
Skaters
Women
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First women's race in Leeuwarden in 1805, won by Trijntje Pieters Westra
Women's race in Leeuwarden in 1809, won by Houkje Gerrits Bouma
Race in Hindeloopen in 1828
