Ireen Wüst

Ireen Wüst
Full name	Irene Karlijn Wüst
nation	Netherlands
birthday	1st April 1986 (age 34)
place of birth	Goirle , Netherlands
size	168 cm
Weight	63 kg
Career
status	active
Medal table
Olympic medals 5 × 5 × 1 × World Cup medals 21 × 20 × 3 × EM medals 7 × 4 × 2 ×
winter Olympics gold 2006 Turin 3000 m bronze 2006 Turin 1500 m gold 2010 Vancouver 1500 m gold 2014 Sochi 3000 m gold 2014 Sochi Team chase silver 2014 Sochi 1000 m silver 2014 Sochi 1500 m silver 2014 Sochi 5000 m gold 2018 Pyeongchang 1500 m silver 2018 Pyeongchang 3000 m silver 2018 Pyeongchang Team chase  All around world championships gold 2007 Heerenveen All-around silver 2008 Berlin All-around bronze 2009 Hamar All-around bronze 2010 Heerenveen All-around gold 2011 Calgary All-around gold 2012 Moscow All-around gold 2013 Hamar All-around gold 2014 Heerenveen All-around silver 2015 Calgary All-around silver 2016 Berlin All-around gold 2017 Hamar All-around silver 2018 Amsterdam All-around gold 2020 Hamar All-around  Sprint World Championships silver 2007 Hamar sprint  Individual distance world championships gold 2007 Salt Lake City 1500 m gold 2007 Salt Lake City 1000 m silver 2007 Salt Lake City team gold 2008 Nagano team silver 2009 Richmond 1500 m silver 2009 Richmond team gold 2011 Inzell 1500 m gold 2011 Inzell 3000 m silver 2011 Inzell 1000 m silver 2011 Inzell team gold 2012 Heerenveen team silver 2012 Heerenveen 1500 m bronze 2012 Heerenveen 3000 m gold 2013 Sochi 1500 m gold 2013 Sochi 3000 m gold 2013 Sochi team silver 2013 Sochi 1000 m silver 2013 Sochi 5000 m silver 2015 Heerenveen 1500 m silver 2015 Heerenveen 3000 m silver 2015 Heerenveen team gold 2016 Kolomna team silver 2016 Kolomna 3000 m gold 2017 Gangwon team gold 2017 Gangwon 3000 m silver 2017 Gangwon 1500 m gold 2019 Inzell 1500 m silver 2019 Inzell Team tracking gold 2020 Salt Lake City 1500 m silver 2020 Salt Lake City Team tracking  All-around European Championships bronze 2006 Hamar All-around silver 2007 Klobenstein All-around gold 2008 Kolomna All-around silver 2010 Hamar All-around silver 2011 Klobenstein All-around bronze 2012 Budapest All-around gold 2013 Heerenveen All-around gold 2014 Hamar All-around gold 2015 Chelyabinsk All-around silver 2016 Minsk All-around gold 2017 Heerenveen All-around  European championships gold 2020 Heerenveen Team tracking gold 2020 Heerenveen 1500 m
Placements in the speed skating world cup
Debut in the World Cup January 29, 2005  World Cup victories 49 (including 36 individual wins)  Total toilet 1000 2. ( 2007/08 )  Total toilet 1500 1. ( 2006/07 , 2013/14 , 2019/20 )  Total toilet 3000/5000 6. ( 2006/07 , 2012/13 , 2013/14 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  1000 meters 4th 9 6th  1500 meters 26th 13 6th  3000 meters 6th 7th 7th  Team competition 13 8th 2
last change: May 4, 2020

Irene Karlijn "Ireen" Wüst (born April 1, 1986 in Goirle ) is a Dutch speed skater .

Since her Olympic debut in 2006, Wüst has won five Olympic gold medals and is one of the most successful speed skaters in history with more than 20 world championship titles in all-around competitions and on individual routes. She achieved her greatest successes on the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter routes. Wüst was named Dutch Sportswoman of the Year twice - in 2006 and 2014 - and received the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy in 2013 .

Athletic career

Wüst began speed skating at the age of eleven. After taking second place at the Dutch junior championships in all-around and sprinting in 2003, she was accepted into the national junior squad Jong Oranje , trained by Gerard Kemkers , at the same time as Sven Kramer . In February 2005, at the age of 18, she reached fifth place in the all- around world championships for adults and shortly afterwards won the corresponding championship for women. At the end of her time as a junior in March 2005, she held the age class world record on all four distances between 1000 meters and 5000 meters.

Ireen Wüst during the 2007 World Championships

Wüst, who was considered the “child prodigy of speed skating”, quickly established himself among the world's best. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, she won the gold medal over 3000 meters ahead of her compatriot Renate Groenewold and the bronze medal over 1500 meters. In the winter of 2005/06 she also won her first three World Cup victories - starting with a success in the team pursuit in December 2005, followed by two individual triumphs over 1000 meters and 1500 meters in front of a home crowd in Heerenveen. In the following season she secured the 1500-meter overall ranking in the World Cup with further first places, ahead of Anni Friesinger , who was tied on points . Wüst also prevailed against Friesinger at the 2007 all- around world championship , shortly afterwards she became individual distance world champion over 1000 meters and 1500 meters. The one year younger Czech Martina Sáblíková became Wüst's main competitor, especially over the longer distances : At the 2007 European all- around championship , Wüst clearly led the overall standings after three of four races before Sáblíková lost more than 14 seconds over 5000 meters and won the title.

In the following winters, Wüst continued to be one of the world's leading speed skaters, especially in all-around competitions: in 2008 she became European champion , at the world championships she was on the podium throughout the four-way battle . However, between 2007 and 2010 she only won two individual World Cup races (each over 1500 meters), so that her second Olympic victory in 2010 (also over this distance) was seen as a surprise by some observers. In 2011, Wüst won two gold medals at the individual distance world championships in Inzell, two years later there were three titles in Sochi, making her the most successful participant in the competitions. At the same time, between 2011 and 2014 she finished the all-around world championships in first place four times in a row. In the spring of 2013, Wüst triumphed in seven World Cup races within a month : three times over 1500 meters, twice over 3000 meters - her first World Cup victories on this route - and twice as a team. In the overall 1500 meter World Cup, she lagged behind Marrit Leenstra and Christine Nesbitt , as she had largely missed the first half of the season due to flu.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics , Wüst competed in five competitions , winning two gold and three silver medals, making her one of the most successful athletes at the Sochi Games across all sports. First she conquered Martina Sáblíková over 3000 meters on February 9, in the following ten days she won silver medals in the 1000-meter, 1500-meter and 5000-meter courses. Wüst was considered the top favorite over 1500 meters, but was beaten by her teammate Jorien ter Mors by a good half a second. Finally, Wüst and ter Mors won the team pursuit together with Marrit Leenstra. After the Olympic competitions, Wüst celebrated her individual World Cup victories 20 to 23 and at the end of winter was also at the top of the 1,500 meter overall standings .

Martina Sáblíková remained Wüst's greatest competitor in the all-around event, and together they were both among the defining figures in international speed skating in the second half of the 2010s. In 2015, 2016 and 2017 they took the first two places at both the World and European Championships in four-way combat, with Sáblíková triumphing three times before Wüst and also three times Wüst before Sáblíková. Wüst retained her strength, especially on the middle distances of 1500 meters and 3000 meters, where she also won other titles in individual distance world championships. At the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, Wüst won her fifth Olympic gold medal over 1500 meters and missed another by eight hundredths of a second over twice the distance when she was second behind Carlijn Eighth Erect . In the 2019/20 World Cup , Wüst won the 1500 meter overall standings for the third time.

Personal and appreciation

Wüst (left) at the award ceremony for the 2014 Olympic 1500 meter race alongside Jorien ter Mors and Lotte van Beek

Wüst grew up as the youngest of three siblings and initially trained hockey and tennis in her childhood, although she skated early on. When she was ten years old, her father took part in the 1997 Elfstedentocht . Wüst later stated that he had developed an interest in speed skating because of this. In October 2009, in an interview with a Dutch magazine, she said on the sidelines that she had been in a relationship with a woman for a few months, which received media coverage. In 2019, she announced her engagement to teammate Letitia de Jong .

In her youth, Wüst was one of the smallest and physically weakest athletes in the Dutch squad. She later stated that she had been very ambitious about training at the beginning of her career and wanted to do about the same workload as Renate Groenewold, who was ten years her senior. Her supervisor Gerard Kemkers temporarily took her out of the training program before her first Olympic qualification due to exhaustion. Even the less successful years after her first Olympic victory, observers attributed Wüst's “tendency to excessive training” (in the original: “propensity to over-train”) and the resulting fatigue. From the summer of 2010, she was certified to have matured.

After her first Olympic victory in 2006 - which made her the youngest Dutch Olympic champion at the Winter Games - Wüst received the honorary title of Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw . In addition, the Dutch sports journalists voted them Sportswoman of the Year in the same year . In 2014 she received this honor a second time after her third and fourth Olympic victory. In October 2009 Ireen Wüst IJsbaan, named after her, opened in her hometown of Tilburg .

At the international level Wüst in 2013 became the first Dutch speed skater as Ice Oscar called Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy . She was honored in particular for her 3000 meter track record at the World Cup finals in Heerenveen. The Reuters news agency named her athlete of the year in 2014, just ahead of Serena Williams and justified the choice in a press release by saying that Wüst had “set new standards for dominance” with her appearance at the Olympics. ).

Personal best

• 500 m: 38.44 s. (installed on February 9, 2007 in Heerenveen)
• 1000 m: 1: 12.64 min. (installed on February 15, 2020 in Salt Lake City)
• 1500 m: 1: 50.70 min. (Dutch record, set on March 10, 2019 in Salt Lake City)
• 3000 m: 3: 58.01 min. (installed on February 12, 2011 in Calgary)
• 5000 m: 6: 54.28 min. (installed on February 8, 2014 in Sochi)

Since November 20, 2005, Wüst has held the national record for 1,500 meters with a one-year break (December 2017 to March 2019), which she herself improved four times. In addition, she held the national record for 1000 meters from March 2, 2007 to November 10, 2013 and from November 17, 2013 to November 14, 2015.

Participation in World Championships and Olympic Winter Games

Olympic games

• 2006 Turin : 1st place 3000 m, 3rd place 1500 m, 4th place 1000 m, 6th place team pursuit
• 2010 Vancouver : 1st place 1500 m, 6th place team pursuit, 7th place 3000 m, 8th place 1000 m
• 2014 Sochi : 1st place team pursuit, 1st place 3000 m, 2nd place 1000 m, 2nd place 1500 m, 2nd place 5000 m
• 2018 Pyeongchang : 1st place 1500 m, 2nd place team pursuit, 2nd place 3000 m, 9th place 1000 m

Individual distance world championships

• 2007 Salt Lake City : 1st 1000 m, 1st 1500 m, 2nd team pursuit, 5th 3000 m
• 2008 Nagano : 1st place team pursuit, 7th place 1500 m, 9th place 1000 m
• 2009 Richmond : 2nd place team pursuit, 2nd place 1500 m
• 2011 Inzell : 1st place 1500 m, 1st place 3000 m, 2nd place team pursuit, 2nd place 1000 m
• 2012 Heerenveen : 1st place team pursuit, 2nd place 1500 m, 3rd place 3000 m, 5th place 1000 m
• 2013 Sochi : 1st place team pursuit, 1st place 1500 m, 1st place 3000 m, 2nd place 1000 m, 2nd place 5000 m
• 2015 Heerenveen : 2nd place team pursuit, 2nd place 1500 m, 2nd place 3000 m, 4th place 1000 m
• 2016 Kolomna : 1st place team pursuit, 2nd place 3000 m, 4th place 1500 m, 6th place 1000 m
• 2017 Gangwon : 1st place team pursuit, 1st place 3000 m, 2nd place 1500 m
• 2019 Inzell : 1st place 1500 m, 2nd place team pursuit, 5th place 3000 m
• 2020 Salt Lake City : 1st 1500 m, 2nd team pursuit, 4th 1000 m

Sprint World Championships

• 2007 Hamar : 2nd place sprint all-around
• 2008 Heerenveen : 6th place sprint all-around
• 2011 Heerenveen : 7th place sprint all-around

All-around world championships

• 2005 Moscow : 5th place in the small four-way fight
• 2006 Calgary : 4th Place Small Quadruple
• 2007 Heerenveen : 1st place in the small four-way fight
• 2008 Berlin : 2nd place in the small four-way fight
• 2009 Hamar : 3rd place in the small four-way fight
• 2010 Heerenveen : 3rd place in the small four-way fight
• 2011 Calgary : 1st place Small Quadruple
• 2012 Moscow : 1st place in the small four-way battle
• 2013 Hamar : 1st place in the small four-way fight
• 2014 Heerenveen : 1st place in the small four-way fight
• 2015 Calgary : 2nd place Small Quadruple
• 2016 Berlin : 2nd place in the small four-way fight
• 2017 Hamar : 1st place in a small four-way fight
• 2018 Amsterdam : 2nd place in the small four-way battle
• 2019 Calgary : 5th Place Small Quadruple
• 2020 Hamar : 1st place small four-way fight

World Cup victories

World Cup victories in individual

No.	date	place	discipline
1.	March 4, 2006	Heerenveen	1000 m
2.	March 5, 2006	Heerenveen	1500 m
3.	February 4, 2007	Turin	1500 m
4th	March 2, 2007	Calgary	1000 m
5.	March 3, 2007	Calgary	1500 m
6th	January 25, 2008	Hamar	1500 m
7th	November 14, 2009	Heerenveen	1500 m
8th.	March 4, 2011	Heerenveen	1500 m
9.	March 6, 2011	Heerenveen	1000 m
10.	November 19, 2011	Chelyabinsk	1500 m
11.	February 11, 2012	Hamar	1500 m
12.	March 3, 2012	Heerenveen	1500 m
13.	February 9, 2013	Inzell	1500 m
14th	February 10, 2013	Inzell	3000 m
15th	March 2, 2013	Erfurt	1500 m
16.	March 9, 2013	Heerenveen	3000 m
17th	March 10, 2013	Heerenveen	1500 m
18th	November 16, 2013	Salt Lake City	1500 m
19th	December 7, 2013	Berlin	1500 m
20th	March 7, 2014	Inzell	1500 m
21st	March 8, 2014	Inzell	3000 m
22nd	March 14, 2014	Heerenveen	1500 m
23.	March 16, 2014	Heerenveen	1000 m
24.	November 14, 2014	Obihiro	3000 m
25th	November 16, 2014	Obihiro	1500 m
26th	5th December 2014	Berlin	3000 m
27.	December 7, 2014	Berlin	1500 m
28.	December 10, 2016	Heerenveen	1500 m
29	January 28, 2017	Berlin	1500 m
30th	29th January 2017	Berlin	3000 m
31.	20th January 2018	Erfurt	1500 m
32.	November 24, 2018	Tomakomai	1500 m
33.	15th December 2018	Heerenveen	1500 m
34.	16th November 2019	Minsk	1500 m
35.	November 24, 2019	Tomaszów Mazowiecki	1500 m
36.	March 8, 2020	Heerenveen	1500 m

World Cup victories in the team

No.	date	place	discipline
1.	4th December 2005	Heerenveen	Team tracking 1
2.	November 19, 2006	Berlin	Team tracking 2
3.	November 9, 2008	Berlin	Team tracking 3
4th	November 16, 2008	Heerenveen	Team tracking 4
5.	January 30, 2011	Moscow	Team tracking 5
6th	March 3, 2013	Erfurt	Team tracking 5
7th	March 9, 2013	Heerenveen	Team tracking 6
8th.	November 10, 2013	Calgary	Team tracking 7
9.	17th November 2013	Salt Lake City	Team tracking 8
10.	December 8, 2013	Berlin	Team tracking 9
11.	15th November 2014	Obihiro	Team tracking 10
12.	December 6, 2014	Berlin	Team tracking 10
13.	November 12, 2016	Harbin	Team tracking 11

¹With Renate Groenewold and Moniek Kleinsman .

²With Renate Groenewold and Paulien van Deutekom .

³With Renate Groenewold and Diane Valkenburg .

^4thWith Renate Groenewold and Marrit Leenstra .

⁵ With Marrit Leenstra and Diane Valkenburg.

^6thWith Marrit Leenstra and Linda de Vries .

^7thWith Lotte van Beek and Linda de Vries.

^8thWith Linda de Vries and Antoinette de Jong .

⁹With Jorien ter Mors and Marrit Leenstra.

¹⁰With Marrit Leenstra and Marije Joling .

¹¹ With Marrit Leenstra and Antoinette de Jong.

Web links

Commons : Ireen Wüst  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ireen Wüst in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
• Ireen Wüst's website (forwards to her Twitter account)
• Statistics at speed skating news
• Portrait in the NiederlandeNet of the WWU Münster
• Photos by Ireen Wüst at DESGphoto
• Athlete profile at Effesport
• Video portrait of Ireen Wüst at the Olympic Games in Sochi

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Joachim Möller: Lioness on the prey. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. March 15, 2011, Sport, page 29. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
2. ↑ Wüst moet ook fit voor World Cup Astana on nu.nl, November 27, 2012. Accessed on May 4, 2020.
3. ↑ Wüst was the only five-time medalist in 2014, for which the short tracker Wiktor Ahn , the cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen and the biathlete Darja Domratschawa won three golds.
4. ↑ luk / dpa / sid: Netherlands celebrate triple triumph over 1500 meters. Spiegel Online , February 16, 2014. Accessed May 4, 2020.
5. ↑ Ireen Wüst of Martina Sáblíková: how heeft de grootste erelijst? Sportnieuws.nl, March 1, 2020. Accessed May 4, 2020.
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Olympic records: The race that turned little girl Ireen Wüst into a speed skating standard-bearer on olympic.org, March 1, 2020. Accessed May 5, 2020.
7. ↑ June Thomas: Gold-Medal-Winning Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst Doesn't Want to Be a Model Queer on slate.com, February 9, 2014. Accessed May 5, 2020.
8. ↑ Ireen Wüst en Letitia de Jong stappen in huwelijksbootje on schaatsen.nl, April 21, 2019. Accessed May 5, 2020.
9. ↑ Ireen Wüst IJsbaan on sportintilburg.nl. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
10. ^ Sid: "Ice Oscar" for Olympic champion Wüst. Focus online, April 17, 2013. Accessed May 5, 2020.
11. ↑ Sport-McIlroy and Wust take top Reuters awards on reuters.com, December 18, 2014. Accessed May 5, 2020.
12. ↑ Development of the national records from the Netherlands 1,500 meters women on speedskatingnews.info. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
13. ↑ Development of the national records from the Netherlands 1,000 meter women on speedskatingnews.info. Retrieved May 4, 2020.