Ireen Wüst

Ireen Wüst

Ireen Wüst in 2013
Personal information
Born	(1986-04-01) 1 April 1986 Goirle, Netherlands
Height
Weight	63 kg (139 lb; 9.9 st)
Website	Official website
Sport
Country	Netherlands
Sport	Speed skating
Club	IJsclub Tilburg TVM Schaatsploeg
Turned pro	2005
Medal record Representing the Netherlands Olympic Games 2006 Turin 3000 m 2010 Vancouver 1500 m 2014 Sochi 3000 m 2014 Sochi Team pursuit 2014 Sochi 1000 m 2014 Sochi 1500 m 2014 Sochi 5000 m 2006 Turin 1500 m World Allround Championships 2007 Heerenveen Allround 2011 Calgary Allround 2012 Moscow Allround 2013 Hamar Allround 2014 Heerenveen Allround 2008 Berlin Allround 2015 Calgary Allround 2009 Hamar Allround 2010 Heerenveen Allround World Sprint Championships 2007 Hamar Sprint World Single Distance Championships 2007 Salt Lake City 1000 m 2007 Salt Lake City 1500 m 2008 Nagano Team pursuit 2011 Inzell 1500 m 2011 Inzell 3000 m 2012 Heerenveen Team pursuit 2013 Sochi 1500 m 2013 Sochi 3000 m 2013 Sochi Team pursuit 2007 Salt Lake City Team pursuit 2009 Vancouver 1500 m 2009 Vancouver Team pursuit 2011 Inzell 1000 m 2011 Inzell Team pursuit 2012 Heerenveen 1500 m 2013 Sochi 1000 m 2013 Sochi 5000 m 2015 Heerenveen 1500 m 2015 Heerenveen 3000 m 2015 Heerenveen Team pursuit 2012 Heerenveen 3000 m European Allround Championships 2008 Kolomna Allround 2013 Heerenveen Allround 2014 Hamar Allround 2015 Chelyabinsk Allround 2007 Collalbo Allround 2010 Hamar Allround 2011 Collalbo Allround 2016 Minsk Allround 2006 Hamar Allround 2012 Budapest Allround

Ireen Wüst (born 1 April 1986) is a Dutch long track allround speed skater.

At the age of 19, on 12 February 2006, Wüst won the gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games 3000-meter event. She is the youngest Dutch Olympic champion in Winter Games history. Four years later in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games she won the 1500-meter event. In the 2014 Winter Olympic Games she won 2 gold and 3 silver medals. She is the most successful athlete of the Netherlands at the Winter Olympics. She is also a five-time world allround champion, a nine-time world single distance champion, and a four-time European allround champion. In 2014 she was elected by Reuters as the Sportswoman of the World.

Skating career

Wüst debuted at the 2004 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships in November 2003 with 9th places in 500 m and 1500 m. At the end of the season she won the silver medal in the world junior championships in Roseville, Minnesota, USA. The next season she qualified for the 2004–05 World Cup during the 2005 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships with a 5th place in the 1000 m and 4th place in the 1500 m. With a 3rd place at the 2005 KNSB Dutch Allround Championships she qualified for her first international senior tournament, the 2005 European Championships in Heerenveen. There she came 4th and secured herself a spot in the Dutch team for the 2005 World Allround Championships in Moscow, Russia, where she finished in 5th place. She then became World Junior Champion in Seinäjoki, Finland.

Season 2005–2006

Before the start of the season Wüst signed a deal with TVM and started training under the guidance of Gerard Kemkers. At the 2006 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships, which also served as the Olympic Trials, Wüst won the 1000 m, 1500 m and 3000 m, which gave her a spot in the Dutch Olympic Team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Before the Olympics she started in the 2006 European Championships in Hamar where she won the bronze medal behind Claudia Pechstein of Germany and teammate Renate Groenewold.

Olympic Games in Turin

At the Olympics her first distance was the 3000 m where Wüst beat Groenewold and Cindy Klassen of Canada and became the youngest olympic champion from the Netherlands in the history of the Winter Olympics. She missed out the podium in the 1000 m finishing 4th. At her last event the 1500 m she won a bronze medal behind Cindy Klassen and Kristina Groves of Canada. At her last event of the season the 2006 World Allround Championships, Wüst ended 4th after she had been ill a few days before the tournament.

After the end of the season Wüst was elected as the best Dutch Sportswoman of the Year 2006. She also became the female skater of the year.

Season 2006–2007

Wüst started the season with two titles and one second place at the 2007 Dutch Distance Championships. She also won the 2007 Dutch Allround Championships. At the 2007 European Championships Wüst led the championships after 3 of 4 distances but was beaten by Martina Sáblíková. The next weekend she competed in the 2007 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships in Hamar, receiving the silver medal again. At the European Championships when she became World Allround Champion during the 2007 World Allround Championships for the homecrowd in Heerenveen. She won the 2006–07 World Cup in the 1500 m after winning two of the six races, as well as the 1000 m during the World Cup Final in Calgary. At the 2007 World Distance Championships she won gold medals in the 1000 m, breaking the national record, and the 1500 m. With Renate Groenewold and Paulien van Deutekom she won silver in the team pursuit behind Canada.

Season 2007–2008

After a difficult start to the season Wüst won the European title all round in January 2008. Her main competitor this year was Paulien van Deutekom. Wüst ended 2nd behind van Deutekom during the World Allround Championships in Berlin. In Nagano during the 2008 World Distance Championships she won the gold medal in the team pursuit alongside Groenewold and Van Deutekom. Wüst won only one world race this season, the 1500 m in Hamar.

2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver

At the Olympics she won a gold medal at the 1500 m.

2014 Olympic Games in Sochi

At the Olympics she won a gold medal at the 3000 metres and at the team pursuit, and silver medals at the 1000, 1500 and 5000 metres.

Records

Personal records
500 m	38.44	9 February 2007	Thialf, Heerenveen
1000 m	1:13.33	17 November 2013	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City	ER
1500 m	1:52.08	16 November 2013	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City	ER
3000 m	3:58.01	12 February 2011	Olympic Oval, Calgary
5000 m	6:54.28	19 February 2014	Adler Arena Skating Center, Sochi
Team pursuit	2:56.02	17 November 2013	Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City	ER

Personal life

Wüst is openly bisexual. In October 2009 she declared that she was bisexual and had a girlfriend, fellow speed skater Sanne van Kerkhof; later she broke up with van Kerkhof and was in a relationship with a male partner.

External links

• Official website
• Photos of Ireen Wüst
• Results of Ireen Wüst

Awards
Preceded by Edith van Dijk Marianne Vos	Dutch Sportswoman of the Year 2006 2014	Succeeded by Marleen Veldhuis Dafne Schippers
Preceded by Marianne Timmer	Ard Schenk Award 2007	Succeeded by Paulien van Deutekom
Preceded by Margot Boer	Ard Schenk Award 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Christine Nesbitt	Oscar Mathisen Award 2013	Succeeded by Jorrit Bergsma