Open letter to ISU ahead of the members conference in Leeuwarden.

The distribution of distances must (of course...) be different than the one I proposed. (Premature).

"In the greatest possible way too avoid that skaters have to choose between events and to keep the qualifications exciting".

My World Championship "week" is in fact a 16 day period.

Maybe like this instead ?:

Saturday: Sprint Day 1. 5k women single distance.
Sunday: Sprint Day 2. 10k, men single distance.
Monday: rest
Tuesday:rest
Wednesday:rest
Thursday: rest
Friday:rest
Saturday: 5k men, 3k women, 1500m, men and women.
Sunday: Mass start men and women, 1000m men and 1000m women.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: Team Pursuit men and women, 500m men and women.
Friday: rest
Saturday: Allround Day1. Team sprint men
Sunday: Allround Day2. Team sprint, women.

NB: The essence in my suggestion is the idea of championship weeks, and the qualification system. The idea of using the single distances to tie things up into ONE championships.

EK:
Saturday: Sprint Day 1. 5k, men single distance.
Sunday: Sprint Day 2. 3k women.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 1500m, men and women
Wednesday: TP men , Mass Start women, 1000m, men
Thursday: TP women, MS, men, 1000m women.
Friday: rest
Saturday: Allround Day 1. 500m women, TS men
Sunday: Allround Day 2. 500m, men. TS women,

No 10k, men or 5k, women in the European Championships.

EK:
Remove TP and TS also.

Saturday: Sprint Day 1. 5k, men single distance.
Sunday: Sprint Day 2. 3k women.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: Mass Start men and women, 1000m, men and women
Thursday: 1500m, men and women
Friday: rest
Saturday: Allround Day 1. 500m women,
Sunday: Allround Day 2. 500m, men.

Why not remove EM? And just have VM allround, sprint and dingle distance every year.

An option of course, but not in this model. The lesser nations could benefit from regional championships.
I would love to see some experiments the next season regarding the Eurochamps. World Championships in Calgary and Inzell are a good treat. (weeks ahead )

I am not a fan of going back to three World Championships again. Thats OK with die hard fans but not for a broader audience. It almost became a joke: " So you have a championships again this week end?" The merge between Allround and Sprint was not the worst thing that could happen. Not for die hard fans either. A move from three to two was a significant improvement. But the idea of having just one? Not so far... The Calendar of next season is FAR better than this one. We have just had a great WSD Championships in Heerenveen. How move on from here?

Another possibility:

EK:

Saturday: Sprint Day 1. 5k, men single distance. 3k women
Sunday: Sprint Day 2. Mass start men and women.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 1500m men, 1000m, women
Thursday: 1500m, women, 1000m, men
Friday: rest
Saturday: Allround Day 1. TS men and women
Sunday: Allround Day 2. 500m, men and women.

Speed skating is still struggeling to get enough attention in Norway. A prolonged championship period could have an effect. A reminder: Just one venue for the Eurochamps, at least two different (countries or even continents) for the Worlds.

Norway: during The European championships, the viewing figures "peaked" on the 10k at about 200 000 viewers.
During the World Championships in Heerenveen: A peak of just about 40-50 000 during the 5k for women.
The explanations and excuses are many, but the goal remains.

Part of the problem in Norway is that the broadcasting rights is not owned by the eqivalent to NOS -- NRK. (Could be seen either as a cause or effect. But maybe the truth is more like partial cause AND effect?)
Viasat Group (former name: Nent Group) have had the rights since 2019/2020, and the period has just ended. Will it be renewed, or will somebody else secure the rights for the coming years?
NSF have urged ISU not to sell the rights to someone else than NRK (or in cooperation with the other big public service company -- TV2)
If NRK will be interested, and to what price, is an open question though, and can ISU instruct Infront to sell the rights to NRK? Last time NRK didnt show enough interest/the price was too high.
Of course NSF wants to capitalize on the good work that has been done to create improved results by the norwegian skaters.

Has Norsk Skøyteforbund urged ISU to sell the rights to NRK? How did this happen? When? Anyways i hope NRK get the rights back

President Mona Adolfsen in a facebook-post. (norsk skøyteframtid)
"
Øystein Magnussen I can at least confirm to those interested that we, the president and GS of NSF, had a meeting with the ISU about this in connection with the WC in Heerenveen. We are doing our bit to influence both the ISU and the Norwegian channels. As you know, it is not something we are a party to, but we have explained - and also perceive that we have received understanding from the ISU - that it is important both for Norwegian and international ice skating that we get speed skating on national TV channels in Norway .
Having said that, I must also pay tribute to those who this season have been responsible for the production and broadcasting of the World Cup and championships. Not least kudos to our talented commentators. There is nothing wrong with the broadcasts, but it is still desirable for us to get them back on NRK, possibly in collaboration with TV2. Skating is alive anyway not least thanks to enthusiasts and incredibly great athletes" (google translate)

Wouldn't it be simpler to request the following from the ISU: (1) complete all World Cup events and World Single Distance Championships no later than the second Sunday in February; and (2) allow local organizations to organize any skating event after the second Sunday in February. This would then allow (for example) Heerenveen and Hamar to organize a two-week allround/sprint event without needing approval or involvement from the ISU. The winner would in this case probably not be referred to as "world champion", but so what, neither is the winner of Wimbledon.

Tja, maybe, but already the coming season ISU organize both WK allround and sprint, plus WSD Champs. I would either go for merging the two of them. or cutting the season in two halves, each half culminating with a WK. One advantage with a EK week and A WK "Week" is the fairly prolonged period time of each Championships. You only get ONE EK and ONE WK consisting the same each season. Easy for everybody to know.

As far as I'm concerned we're just shooting the breeze here, but if you (we?) are serious about lobbying the ISU, we should probably assume that the 23/24 season is locked in, and that any lobbying can have effect for the 24/25 season onward. I just don't see how/why the ISU would entertain a new formula that probably looks complicated to them, especially given that they seem to prefer to not have any allround events at all. Let's just take it off their hands and give local organizations a chance to promote allround skating. The skills to do this certainly exist. For example:

https://www.decoolstebaanvannederland.nl/en/
https://www.houseofsports.nl/case/de-coolste-baan-van-nederland/

If this is done after the ISU is finished with their season, then their ought to be no conflict. Of course, the challenge is making it profitable enough so that the prize money will be significant for the top skaters.

With about 2000 views the chances are good that some "insider(s)" have had a look at what I wrote.
The heading of this thread is meant to draw attention, but this is of course not a "formal inquiry". The idea is to possibly sow some (new?) seeds.

I am a speed skating supporter. I simply think that fans should be listened to. Not "just" the skaters, trainers and each and every national speed skating federation of the ISU. HOW to organize, and implement is another question. House of Sports cooperate with ISU. Your idea differs from mine, zopie. ISU has indeed opened up for so called "third parties" which suits your model better than mine I would say.

EK 2024. Yet another possibility (I am copying this from another thread):

Saturday 6th: Sprint Day 1. 5k, men, 3k women single distance.
Sunday: Sprint Day 2. Team Pursuit men and women.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 1500m, men and women
Thursday: Mass Start men and women, 1000m, men and women
Friday: rest
Saturday: Allround Day 1. 500m men and women.
Sunday 14th: Allround Day 2. TS men and women

Ik vind het een slecht idee om alle toernooien in een week af te handelen. Het voorgestelde format is rommelig en onoverzichtelijk. Toernooien moeten juist verder uit elkaar georganiseerd worden zodat je ieder seizoen meerdere keren kan genieten van een spannend weekendje schaatsen.

Yes, It must be clustered to draw enough attention. One distance per day belong to the olympics.

The calendar of today is indeed messy. As opposed to the possibility to have the same championship programme each season and day -- establish a recognizable tradition. The WSD of today is messy in the sense that the programme each day differs from each championships, but maybe not so much of a problem compared to the alternation of the championships of today. ("When is WK allround?" "Has WK allround been held already this season?")

Although an interesting option, would it be less messy to have EK sprint and allround the first week end, and EK the single distance version the next? Hm. Have a look at the distribution of distances/events again. Its not random. Its about optimalization. Thats the point about posting several posibilities -- to find the most optimal one. I like the thought that in exceptional cases skaters can choose to participate both in allround- and sprint samalogs. Skaters are able to perform fri-sat-sun two week ends after each other in the World Cup. Then it should also be possible with such an EK schudule as above -- or yours -- at only one location.

To me it would be a strange thought to introduce EK allround and -sprint one week end, and the EK single version a forthnight thereafter. Then its not a real championships anymore -- Its two, and thats too much. Based on experience regarding the WKs! Future: Either you cluster the annual WK allround/sprint + WSD more/tie them together OR draw the two of them much further apart but still having both of them every season.

Let me put this another way too:
I very much enjoyed attending the EK in Hamar in january. Unfortunately the weather was really bad that Week End, and the hotel capacity was low due to other arrangements nearby. Hence, and sadly, the stands were sparesely populated. The NSF have recently achieved great sucess with foreign coaches as main contributors (Rykkje, Wotherspoon). Exciting group of skaters! Badly needed at this point of time because of heavy competition from other winters sports and activities. The norwegian die hard supporters becoming older each year.
Exciting competitions indeed, but when the EK was over it felt only like halfway through: What could Ragne and Sander have done in the single distance part given their very promising efforts? Wouldnt it have been very wise for the interest of the sport if more was to come more or less immidiately? It would have given the audience, and host a second chance to fill the stands, the media contributing to increased interest by providing more speed skating stuff and so on. Instead Speed Skating immidiately went into the den for weeks.

I very much enjoyed my third time to Thialf! Wonderful arrangement, staying for the first time in the surprsingly pleasant cultural town of Leeuwarden. Excellent days! But the same feeling erupted: Sadly Sander Eitrem became ill, and couldnt reach his best level. Ragne Wiklund on her part collected medals in a greedy fashion: We were only half way through! What would an allround WK more or less immidiately afterwards have resulted in? More interest for sure. Instead Speed Skating closed for the season.

The NSF of Norway consist of a small group of people. It is very much to their benefit the work they have done. They have put their effort in systems enabling better results for their skaters. Unfortunately -- and simultainously -- Infront, and ISUs selling of the media rights to a rather small (but ambitious, and skilled) media company Net Group (Viasat Group) had some negative effects. The viewing figures much below decent levels. Hence NSF recently, and wisely, are trying to secure that the pictures will reach out to more people next season.

Problem is that a third focus area seems to be missing: The Calendar. Next season is somewhat better than this one, providing us with both WK allround/sprint and WSD, but at this stage you know my thoughts about these things. Main worry is not the total number of medals awarded, but the number of championships. Maximum focus for the sport when they have the attention. It is often said that what is missing is more World Cup Events, but it is very difficult to see how one could increase the number of World Cup events with means that are worth the effort. Instead one should focus on the strenghtening at about the present numbers. Pointing at, and contributing to the main focus which is the strenghtening of the championships. Those are always going to be most important.