Thialf () is an ice arena in
Heerenveen
Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...
,
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. Thialf is used for
long track speed skating
Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic sport, Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skat ...
,
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 ...
,
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
,
figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...
,
ice speedway
Ice speedway is a developed form of motorcycle speedway racing, featuring racing on frozen surfaces. The sport uses bikes enhanced for the terrain. Participants can compete at international level.
Outline
The bikes race counterclockwise arou ...
, and non-sporting events. The outdoor rink was opened in 1967, and the indoor stadium was opened in 1986. Several world records have been set in the indoor stadium.
Annually, Thialf hosts two
Speed Skating World Cup
The ISU Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised annually by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985–86. Every year during the winter season, a number of competitions on differen ...
events.
Jan de Jong
Jan de Jong (1942 – c. 28 April 2009) was the ice master of the Thialf skating stadium in Heerenveen, Netherlands. De Jong was responsible for the ice in the pre-eminent Dutch skating rink from 1967 when it opened as an outdoor 400-metre oval (t ...
was the ice rink master at Thialf for many years.
History
Thialf is named after
Thialfi, a character in
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, who was
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
's servant and had to race a giant.
Construction on the artificial outdoor ice rink was started in 1966, and it was opened on 14 October 1967 by
Princess Christina of the Netherlands
Princess Christina of the Netherlands (Maria Christina; 18 February 1947 – 16 August 2019) was the youngest of four daughters of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She taught singing in New York and was ...
. It was the third 400m artificial ice rink in the Netherlands, after the
Jaap Eden baan in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
and the IJsselstadion in
Deventer
Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...
. Several national and international tournaments have been held in Thialf, but only one world record has been set on the outdoor rink, by
Andrea Schöne
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ...
on the
5000 m
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...
in 1983.
The roofed stadium, which seats 12,500 people, opened on 17 November 1986, about a year after
Sportforum Hohenschönhausen
Sportforum Hohenschönhausen, officially named Sportforum Berlin, is a multi-purpose sports complex in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen of the borough of Lichtenberg, Berlin, Lichtenberg in Berlin. The Sportforum was also known as the Dynamo- ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, which was the first 400m indoor speed skating oval in the world. Thanks to the indoor conditions, allowing climate control, almost all world speed skating records were broken at Thialf in the first season.
[Calgary
Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...]
, which have the additional benefit of low air pressure.
Every year there are main skating events like the Dutch, European and World championships, and one or two
events in Thialf.
The 2500-seat ice hockey arena adjacent to the speed skating oval is the home arena of the
, one of the Netherlands' most successful ice hockey clubs. It is also the main arena used in the Netherlands for international ice hockey tournaments, hosting the
(Division II, Group A) in late March 2012.
The stadium was renovated in 2016.
; Dutch championships
: * Dutch allround 1968: only for women.
: * Dutch sprint: 1969, 1973, 1979, 1982: only for men.
; European championships
; World championships
; World Cup
These are the current track records in Thialf.