Carlijn Schoutens has made the transition from Dutch national to Team USA complete.
On Tuesday, Schoutens, 23, won the women’s 3,000-meter at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Long Track Speedskating at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee.
The victory gives her the lone Team USA spot in the women’s 3,000 at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. She is also the first long track speedskater to punch her ticket to the Games.
Olympic trials continue through Sunday, with up to eight men and eight women total qualifying.
Mia Manganello finished second to Schoutens. It was a showdown that was set at least since world cup qualifying in October, when Manganello won the 3,000 in 4:07.27, followed by Schoutens in 4:09.15 and Petra Acker in 4:12.78. Schoutens, who was born in the U.S. but grew up in the Netherlands, joined Team USA in 2014.
Schoutens won the U.S. national title in the 5,000 during the 2015-16 season, defending her title from 2014-15 in which she also won silver in the 3,000, bronze in the 1,500 and gold in the allround. She has been on the U.S. world cup team the past two seasons.
Schoutens lived and skated in Netherlands until 2014 and currently makes her home near Salt Lake City. In 2017, she set personal bests in the 500 (41.33), 1,000 (1:19.51), 1,500 (1:59.97), 3,000 (4:05.54) and 5,000 (7:06.94).
Gary R. Blockus is a journalist from Allentown, Pennsylvania who has covered multiple Olympic Games. He is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
