Schoutens Qualifies For Second Olympic Distance At U.S. Olympic Team Trials

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – The U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Long Track continued today at the Pettit National Ice Center. Carlijn Schoutens (Heemstede, Netherlands) became the first U.S. skater to qualify for multiple distances at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, winning the women’s 5000m.

“It’s the longest one that we do for women and it’s obviously a strain on the legs and it’s pretty tough to do, so with only one ticket available I think some people were picking their battles as we have a couple more distances to go,” said Schoutens. “For me, it didn’t really make a difference, it’s only one person and you still have to do the best race possible to get that one ticket.”

Skating in the final pair, Schoutens finished 14.23 seconds better than second-place finisher Petra Acker (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), skating a final time of 7:12.25. Schoutens, a rookie to the Olympic Games, was the first U.S. skater to punch their ticket to PyeongChang, qualifying in the women’s 3000m on the first day of Trials.

“Two out of two so far. I’m really happy,” said Schoutens.

Chase Reichmann (West Allis, Wisc.) became the U.S. men’s 10000m National Champion skating a 14.25.97.

“It feels fantastic,” said Reichmann. “It’s everything I’ve worked for and I couldn’t be happier.”

Reichmann beat out the oldest competitor of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, 53-year-old Theron Sands (Biloxi, Miss.) who finished in 14.35.37.

“I’ve worked for six years to get to this point,” said Sands. “Regardless of the result, I’ve won. I skated a personal best for this facility today. I’m very happy and feel like I honored my coach who passed away this year.”

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

The entire U.S. Olympic Long Track Speedskating Team will be formally named at the conclusion of the week’s races and will consist of a maximum of eight men and eight women skaters, subject to approval by the United States Olympic Committee.
Racing continues on Thursday, January 4 with the women’s 5000m and men’s 10000m. Live coverage of the races will be on NBCSN beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.

The Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 will be held in South Korea from February 9-25, 2018. Both Long and Short Track will be held in the Gangneung coastal cluster with all Olympic competitions for Long Track Speedskating to be held at the Gangneung Oval, which will have a seating capacity of 8,000.