Annette Gerritsen

Annette Albertine Gerritsen (born 11 October 1985) is a Dutch former speed skater. She specialised in the 500 m and 1000 m distances, and won a silver medal in the 1000 metres at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She is the current Dutch junior record holder in the 500 m (38.57) and her personal best (1.16.14) used to be the world junior record. She also holds the world junior record with her Dutch teammates in the team pursuit (3.12.37).

Annette Gerritsen
Gerritsen prepares for a race
Personal information
Born (1985-10-11) 11 October 1985
Ilpendam, Netherlands
WebsiteAnnetteGerritsen.nl
Sport
CountryNetherlands
SportSpeed skating
Turned pro2005
Medal record
Women's speed skating
Representing the  Netherlands
Olympic Games
2010 Vancouver1000 m
World Sprint Championships
2008 HeerenveenSprint
2011 HeerenveenSprint
World Single Distance Championships
2008 Nagano500 m
2008 Nagano1000 m

Skating career

Gerritsen's breakthrough came during the 2004–05 speed skating season when she won the bronze medal in the 500 m at the 2005 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships. She won another bronze medal that same year at the 2005 KNSB Dutch Sprint Championships and qualified for the 2005 ISU World Sprint Championships where she finished in 17th position.

2005–06 season

The year after, at the 2006 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships she improved her bronze 500 m medal to a silver and was also able to win a bronze medal in the 1000 m. She then successfully defended her bronze medal at the 2006 KNSB Dutch Sprint Championships and also managed to qualify for both the 2006 ISU World Sprint Championships and the 2006 Winter Olympics. While her Sprint Championships were successful when she finished in 6th position her Olympics were disappointing. Gerritsen qualified in two distances. She finished 12th in the 500 m and 23rd in the 1000 m.

2006–07 season

In the 2006–07 pre-season Gerritsen showed her potential to become the fastest Dutch sprint speed skater when beating teammate Marianne Timmer several times. However at the 2007 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships she was unable to keep her pre-season form and only finished in third position behind the surprising Margot Boer and Timmer. Her performances gave her the opportunity to participate in the 2007 World Sprint Championships, where she finished 7th overall, with a 4th place in the second 1000 m race. On 28 January, Gerritsen won her first World Cup event, a 500 m in Heerenveen, although only after favorite Jenny Wolf fell after 50 m.[1] Her victory guaranteed her a spot in the 500 m at the 2007 World Single Distance Championship, to be held in Salt Lake City on 10 March.

Gerritsen used to date multiple Olympic speed skating medallist Sven Kramer.

2010 Olympics

Gerritsen won silver in the 1000 m at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver with a time of 1.16.58, only a fiftieth of a second behind gold medallist Christine Nesbitt of Canada.[2]

Personal bests
Personal records[3]
Women's speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
100 m10.5013 March 2005Olympic Oval, Calgary
500 m37.6317 November 2007Olympic Oval, Calgary
1000 m1.14.3329 January 2012Olympic Oval, Calgary
1500 m1.55.9117 November 2007Olympic Oval, Calgary
3000 m4.14.0811 March 2005Olympic Oval, Calgary

References
  1. http://www.nos.nl/nosstudiosport/artikelen/2007/1/28/28011754wbsprintdamesheerenveen.html
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20100408202918/http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-speed-skating/schedule-and-results/ladies-1000-m_ssw010101eE.html
  3. "Annette Gerritsen". www.speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
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