On 19th and 20th March, the 5th International Masters’ Thialf Record Races (TRR2025) took place in Heerenveen, The Netherlands. With 123 participants, of which 111 masters, coming from 13 countries, and with 110 SB’s, 34 PR’s, 3 NR’s and 20 IMSSC WR’s, the competition was a huge success and a very nice closure of the season!

In this TRR, masters can choose from the following components:
• Sprint
• Allround Small
• Allround Normal
• Allround Big
• Single Distances (3.000m/5.000m/10.000m)

So everybody can race his/her preferred distance during this event. And also it’s possible to participate in a challenging competition which is not often possible to compete, such as the 10.000m or Allround Big.

World Records day 1
On Wednesday, there were already set 5 new IMSSC World Records:

• Katja Franzen broke the World Record in the L35 on the 500m, which was held by Mijke Anne Kanneworff with a time of 40,63. Katja set the new record at 40,28.
• Katja also overtook the 1.000m record in this category. With 1.20,31 she smashed the World Record of 1.22,10, which also was held by Mijke Anne Kanneworff.
• Arjan Bakker set a new World Record in the M65. With 7.18,36 on the 5.000m he broke the record from John van der Vlugt, which was since 2023 on 7.41,82.
• Also Kees Verdouw (M80) set a new World Record on the 5.000m. With a time of 9.10,21 he took over the record from the Norwegian Arne Kjell Foldvik, which time from 9.44,28 stood since 2015!
• Arne Kjell Foldvik, in the meantime 90 years old, set with 17.24,99 a new 5.000m World Record in the category M90.

World Records day 2
On Thursday, there were skaten 7 new IMSSC World Records:

• Kim Leliveld set a new record in the L30 on the 10.000m. With a time of 16.58,40 she took over the record from Bianca van den Hoek, which (since 2009!) stood on 17.05,20.
• Katja Franzen (L35) improved the World Record on the 500m, which she set yesterday on a time of 40.28, again. Now she went under 40 seconds, she set the new record on a great time of 39,92!
• In the L60 Ciska Stark improved her own World Record from 18.18,75 on the 10.000m with a new time of 18.13,48.
• Also Arjan Bakker set a new record on the 10.000m: with a time of 15.00,27 he crushed the standing world record from John van der Vlugt in the M65, which stood on 15.48,35.
• Kees Verdouw improved two World Records in the M80: with 2.32,67 he improved his own 1.500m record and with 18.54,71 he improved the 10.000m record from Arne Kjell Foldvik, which stood on a time of 20.27,21.
• And in the M90 Arne Kjell Foldvik set a new World Record on the 10.000m in a time of 36.49,11!

Thialf Director Minne Dolstra found the completion of the Allround Big by 90-year-old Norwegian Arne Kjell Foldvik so special that he came to him to congratulate him personally shortly after completing his 10,000m.

Point totals
Next to these records, there were also broken 8 IMSSC World Records in point totals:

• Sprint
  • L35 Katja Franzen: 160.830 (was 163.970 from Mijke Anne Kanneworff)
• Allround Normal
  • L65 Carolien van Rees: 224.948 (was 243.076 from Silvia Tassara)
• Allround Big
  • L30 Kim Leliveld: 192.399 (was 220.867 from Daniëlle Frijters)
  • L60 Ciska Stark: 206.202 (was 207.005 from Ciska herself)
  • M65 Arjan Bakker: 174.559 (was 183.355 from John van der Vlugt)
  • M70 Mircea Vranceanu: 201.070 (was 202.358 from Arne Kjell Foldvik)
  • M80 Kees Verdouw: 214.506 (was 226.748 from Arne Kjell Foldvik)
  • M90 Arne Kjell Foldvik :380.384 (new)

National Records
What was also really nice was that during this tournament, there were skaten 3 National records:

• Klas Berlič Fras skatet a new Slovenian Record on the 500m: he broke his own record to a new time of 54,50.
• Also on the 1.000m he skated a new Slovenian Record in a time of 1.52,91.
• Erik Nijland skated a new national record for Bolivia on the 5.000m. He set the new record on 10.17,45.

Closing party
You could say that the races in Thialf were, so to speak, the ‘closing party’ of the season. Everyone looked happy: to see each other one more time this season, to skate one time more and to set a new SB, PR or WR and close the season together on a great way. The atmosphere among skaters, starters, referees and jury was absolutely fantastic.

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to these two wonderful days! Have a great and healthy summer and see you next season!

Results TRR2025
IMSSC World Record List 2024
Eventpage TRR2025