Kortebaanschaatsen (short track skating) refers to an old form of Dutch ice skating tournament that goes back to the 18th century. It is not to be confused with the modern speed skating sport known as
short track speed skating
Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...
. The sport is similar to
harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...
(known as kortebaandraverijen) and is similarly setup in two straight lanes of 160 meters.
History
Since 1805 women's kortebaanschaatsen is held over a distance of 140 meters. In the first race held for women in 1805 in
Leeuwarden
Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...
won by Trijntje Pieters Westra, the women were "just as fast as the horses", which referred to a previous kortebaandraverij that had been held previously that week with sleighs instead of wheeled
sulky
A sulky is a lightweight cart with two wheels and a seat for the driver, generally pulled by horses or dogs. With horses, a sulky is used for harness racing. The term is also used for an arch-mounted cart on wheels or crawler tracks, used in ...
s.Tekstblad bij de prent van de schaatswedstrijd voor vrouwen te Leeuwarden, 1805, P.H. Meyer en Co., 1805 - 1807 The full list of women participants with their ages and addresses was published in an account by Evert Maaskamp. The women's sport was popular because the women were skating with bare arms and were seen to be unusually talented and strong. A print was made that became popular, that was accompanied by another engraving with a commemorative descriptive text.
The first Dutch national champions were for men Thijs Klompmaker (1926) and for women Sjoukje Bouma (1933).
File:Luisterrijke Vrouwen Schaatschen Rijdparty.jpg, First women's race in Leeuwarden in 1805, won by Trijntje Pieters Westra
File:Schaatswedstrijd voor vrouwen op de Stadsgracht in Leeuwarden - 21 januari 1809 - Nicolaas Baur - 1809 - SK-A-5020 - Rijksmuseum.jpg, Women's race in Leeuwarden in 1809, won by Houkje Gerrits Bouma
File:Kortebaanwedstrijd in Hindelopen.jpg, Race in Hindeloopen in 1828
Today most large Dutch cities have indoor skating rinks, and the rise of
speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...
as a sport has enabled many young skaters to learn early how to skate through turns, which was never necessary on kortebaan tracks. With shorter and shorter periods of frost, fewer and fewer kortebaan sprint tournaments were held, which caused the creation of the indoor sprint alternative now known as KNSB Dutch Super Sprint Championships.
Annie van der Meer
Annie van der Steeg-Van der Meer (10 August 1928 — 30 May 2004) was a Dutch kortebaan speed skater, with her best results in the 1950s. During her career she won a total of 75 prizes. She became twice Frisian champion and won the silver meda ...
Jantje Hagenou-Bathoorn
Jantje is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Jantje Friese (born 1977), German film producer and screenwriter
* Jantje Hagenou-Bathoorn (born 1934), Dutch speed skater
*Jantje Visscher
Jantje Visscher is an American painter, pr ...