The Speed Skating World Cup is coming back to South Tyrol

All speed skating fans had to wait six long years for this. But this winter it's that time again and after this long break a World Cup event will take place on the ice ring of the Ritten Arena. On the first weekend in December, the juniors race across the sparkling South Tyrolean ice in Klobenstein. Around 250 young athletes from no fewer than 24 nations are expected.

18 October 2023

From: pm

The open-air ring in the Ritten Arena sports zone is very popular across the country and beyond in the winter months. A speed skating World Cup took place on this facility six times between 2009 and 2017 and the big highlight was undoubtedly the European All-Around Championships at the beginning of 2019. The South Tyrolean ice oval is also used by numerous national teams for training purposes - like this In January, for example, the Dutch national team, which has countless Olympic champions and world champions in its ranks, made a guest appearance at Ritten.

But now the long wait for a World Cup is over. On Saturday, December 2nd and Sunday, December 3rd, around 250 young speed skaters will gather at the ice ring and fight for important World Cup points. Klobenstein is the second of four stops in the Junior World Cup, which starts in Baselga di Piné in Trentino on November 25th and 26th. The participating athletes will also include Maybritt Vigl, a young talent from Ritten who has already made people sit up and take notice with some strong results in the past.

The program for the two days of competition in the Ritten Arena has already been decided. The team leaders will meet on Friday, December 1st at 16 p.m. and the starting numbers will be drawn at 18 p.m. The first races start on Saturday at 10 a.m. Women and men then compete in the 1000m and 3000m distances. Afterwards, a mixed team relay will take place for the first time on the Rittner Eisring, in which two teams consisting of a woman and a man run six laps against each other. The World Cup will conclude on Sunday from 9 a.m. with the mass start qualification, followed by the 500 and 1500 meters for women and men and the final of the mass start. A lot of excitement is guaranteed as part of the Junior World Cup on Ritten, which starts in exactly 45 days.