Jan Smeekens

Jan Smeekens

Jan Smeekens
Personal information
Born (1987-02-11) 11 February 1987
Raalte, Netherlands
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 72 kg (159 lb)
Website www.jansmeekens.nl
Sport
Country Netherlands
Sport Speed skating
Turned pro 2001

Jan Smeekens (born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch speed skater. He is a 500 m specialist.[1]

Smeekens won his first international medal during the 2004 World Junior Single Distance Championships in Moscow where he won the gold medal at the 500 m. At the 2006 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships on 28 October 2005 he made his début among the senior skaters in his country, resulting in claiming a World Cup spot for races in Collalbo and Baselga di Pinè. In the A-group of these World Cup meetings he finished in 6th and 7th position.

On 7 January 2006, later during the 2005–06 season he also made his début at the 2006 KNSB Dutch Sprint Championships. At these championships he managed to win the second race over 500 m. In February 2006 Smeekens signed a professional contract with the TVM Speed skating team.

His first success in his new team was winning a silver medal on the 500 m at the 2007 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships. He won the first race beating all the favourites, while finishing second behind Jan Bos in the final race. Bos claimed and defended his title.

In 2006 Smeekens became the Dutch junior record holder in the 500 m with a personal best of 35.16, which he achieved during the 2006 speed skating finals in Calgary.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Smeekens finished sixth in the 500 m race.

He won Silver in the Men's 500 metres Speed Skating event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Records

Personal records

Personal records
Men's speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
100 m 9.69 14 February 2009 Enschede Dutch record
300 m 22.78 14 February 2009 Enschede WR
500 m 34.32 19 January 2013 Calgary Dutch record
1000 m 1:08.89 16 March 2007 Calgary
1500 m 1:48.44 15 March 2007 Calgary
3000 m 4:05.18 21 January 2006 Erfurt
5000 m 7:23.36 5 February 2005 Assen

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com[2]

World records

DistanceTimeDateLocationAvg. speed
300 m22.7814 February 2009Enschede47.4 km/h

References

  1. "Jan Smeekens Homepage". Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  2. "Jan Smeekens". speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 27 February 2012.



This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/13/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.