Carlijn Schoutens Skates Second Event At 2018 Winter Games

Team USA long track speed skating continued from the Gangneung Oval at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 with the women’s 5000m on Friday evening. Carlijn Schoutens (Heemstede, Netherlands) finished 11th in the women's 5000m.

Skating in the second pair alongside Belgium’s Jelene Peeters, Schoutens finished with a time of 7:13.28.

“I felt like I really raced like myself and was less thrown by all that was going on,” Schoutens said. “I’m really happy coming out of this race. Not my best time ever. Not my fastest laps ever. But this was super enjoyable. I’m really proud of the race that I did today.”

Schoutens’ best 400m split was 32.51 seconds early in the race.

“It was a good solid race,” said Tom Cushman, U.S. allround head coach. “We lost a little time on the last few laps, but the times were almost right on target for what we planned.”

Her split times slightly increased each of the final eight laps. Her fastest split throughout the second half of her race was 34.03 seconds.

“I didn’t really know what it was going to be like because it’s such a big race and everyone shows up with their best performance but it’s amazing to be a part of that,” Schoutens said. “And to get a chance to race at the Olympics, it’s very, very special.”

“It was such a good head-to-head challenge with her pair Jelena Peters from Belgium,” said Cushman. “That was a fun night of racing.”

Schoutens made her Olympic debut in the women’s 3000m, finishing in 22^nd place with a time of 4:15.60 last Saturday.

For results, post-race interviews and other media information, visit the US Speedskating Media Page.

Long track continues on Sunday, February 18 with the men’s Team Pursuit qualifying rounds and the women’s 500m. Live coverage of the races will be streamed on nbcolympics.com beginning at 8 p.m. KT (6 a.m. ET).

Quotes from Carlijn Schoutens

• “I was much more happy with this (5000m) than I was with the (3000m). I felt like I really raced like myself and was less thrown by all that was going on. I’m really happy coming out of this race. Not my best time ever. Not my fastest laps ever. But this was super enjoyable. I’m really proud of the race that I did today.”
• “I didn’t really know what it was going to be like because it’s such a big race and everyone shows up with their best performance but it’s amazing to be a part of that. And to get a chance to race at the Olympics, it’s very, very special.”

Quote from Tom Cushman

• “It was a good solid race. We lost a little time in the turns on the last few laps, but the time was almost right on target for what we planned.”
• “It was such a good head-to-head challenge with her pair Jelena Peters from Belgium. That was a fun night of racing.”