Nils van der Poel wins The Oscar Trophy 2021 Swedish speed skater Nils van der Poel wins “The Oscar Award of Speed Skating” for the season 2020/21 for his outstanding world record 10,000 m race at the ISU World Championship at the Thialf stadium in Heerenveen, The Netherlands, February 14, 2021. Just two weeks ahead of the World Championship race, the Swedish skater was still not eligible for a start on his favourite distance. As Japan withdrew from the Championships, however, one of the twelve starting permits became vacant. Nils van der Poel gained that spot with an excellent 5,000 m race at the last World Cup race before the World Championships. In the World Championship race, van der Poel started already in the third pair, and all his main rivals were to start in later pairs. His goal was a new world record on the distance, an achievement that for a long time had been viewed as quite impossible on a lowland track. Based on his experiences from test races earlier in the season, however, Nils knew that a world record time was within his reach. He calculated that such a race could give him a gold medal in the 10,000 m race. Nils van der Poel executed his plan in an impressive manner. With the exception of the starting lap, he never skated at a slower pace than 30,1 seconds and he did lap times of 29,6 seconds on all of the finishing three laps of the 25-lap race. He beat his Italian pair mate, Michele Malfatti, by more than one lap. Clocking a time of 12.32,95, Nils improved the world record of Canada’s Graeme Fish, set on the high-altitude track in Salt Lake City at last year’s World Championships, by 0,91 seconds. His race was so overwhelming that not a single one of his potential rivals really tried to beat his time. One by one, they skated at a slightly higher pace than van der Poel. Dutchman Jorrit Bergsma captured the silver medal, beaten by 13 seconds, while the Russian bronze medal winner Alexander Rumyantsev was distanced by 22 seconds. Dutch track record holder Patrick Roest, who before Christmas had set a new Thialf track record of 12.35,20 on the distance, finished seventh in the last pair of the event, slightly behind former world record holder and reigning Olympic champion Ted-Jan Bloemen fom Canada – both defeated by more than half-a-minute. 5,000 m sensation Three days earlier, Nils van der Poel had already created a sensation by winning the World Championship 5,000 m race. Going into this race, Patrick Roest was the big favourite following his victories on the distance in the European Championships all round an in both of the season’s World Cup events. Following his 8th pair race, Patrick was in a quite comfortable lead, as expected. Nils van der Poel started in the ninth pair and even he was trailing Roest’s split times. However, as the bell rang for the last lap, the Swede had captured the lead by just 11/100 seconds – a lead that he increased to one-and-a-half second to win the 5,000 m gold medal. And still, his main goal for the season remained to be reached. Nils van der Poel was born in Trollhättan, Sweden, April 25, 1996, and he was 25 years old when he won his two World Championship gold medals in Heerenveen last winter. He is a member of Skridskoklubben Trollhättan and got his first significant international start at the age of 13 in the Viking Race in Heerenveen – the unofficial European championships for youngsters. At the age of 15, Nils gained his first medal in the Swedish championships for senior skaters, finishing second in the 5,000 m race at Östersund in 2012. The same season he placed fifth in the 3,000 m during the Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and in 2013 he won both the 5,000 m and the 10,000 m race in the Swedish championship at Falun. In 2014 Nils van der Poel gained his first international title, winning the 5,000 m race in the World Junior Championships in Bjugn, Norway, ahead of Patrick Roest. Earlier in the season he had made his debut as an international championship skater, in the European Championships all round at Hamar, Norway, where he placed 24th. He followed up with solid races at the World Championships all round in Heerenveen, where he captured a 9th place in the 5,000 m race and a 19th place overall after three distances. Took up parachute diving Following the next season, once more gaining the 5,000 m World Junior Championship, during the spring of 2015, Nils van der Poel decided to take a break from speed skating. He joined a three-month military training program in Gothenburg. After having fulfilled this program, he took up training and practicing parachute diving, in his own estimates making more than 150 jumps during the following year. Van der Poel returned to skating competitions at a local event in Trollhättan in December 2015, but he took part in just a few competitions during the 2015/16 season. He finished the season with a strong 10,000 m race in Örebro, Sweden in March. The Swedish skater came back stronger during the 2016/17 season, with the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang 2018 as his main goal. At the European allround Championships in Heerenveen he took the 12th place, and he became number eight in the 10,000 m race during the World Championships single distances held at next season’s Olympic venue. The Winter Olympics 2018 did not end in line with Nils van der Poel’s expectation. He did not qualify for start in his 10,000 m special distance and he placed 14th in the 5,000 m race. Nevertheless, his major international break-through occurred this season, during the World Championships all round at Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium. Nils gained a surprising sixth place overall after having won the 10,000 m race four-and-a-half second ahead of the overall winner Patrick Roest. Away from competitions for two years The following spring, Nils van der Poel made a surprising announcement of once more retiring from skating competitions. He enlisted for the basic ranger course at the Swedish Army’s Ranger Battalion in Arvidsjaur in Northern Sweden. With the exception of one local event in Trollhättan, van der Poel was away from speed skating competitions from March 2018 to November 2020. After this long break, Nils opened last season with a strong test race over 10,000 m on the 250 meters track in Trollhättan’s bandy hall on November 23. Just three weeks later he delivered a super strong 10,000 m race in Inzell, Germany, clocking in at 12.46,91, improving his own personal record by almost 18 seconds. Nils van der Poel’s long pause from competitions – in a combination with the fact that every planned World Cup event before New Year 2020/21 were cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic – led to a situation where Sweden had no quota place for the European Championships all round 2021. Following an application from the Swedish Skating Federation, Nils got a start permit for the EC, which was the first event during a five-week- long “speed skating bubble” arranged in Heerenveen in January/February. Following a second place in the 5,000 m race, beaten clearly by Patrick Roest, and a huge victory on the 10,000 m on a new personal best time of 12.42,80, Nils van der Poel gained a fourth place overall in the EC. Even after that, a place among the skaters that could compete in the World Championship 10,000 m race was not within reach. Only after Japan withdrew from the Championships, an opening occurred for the twelfth and last spot in the race. Following the next week’s first World Cup event of the season, Norwegian skater Hallgeir Engebråten took the lead in the struggle for the free spot, with a 5,000 m time of 6.09,21. Nils van der Poel set a new Swedish record, but was beaten by the Norwegian by to-and-a-half second. During the second World Cup event of the season, the Swedish skater therefore had one goal going into another 5,000 m race: To beat Engebråten’s time from the previous weekend, and to make sure that he was himself not beaten by any skater who was not already qualified for the World Championship 10,000 m race. In the deciding World Cup race, Nils van der Poel set again a new Swedish record, with a time of 6.08,39. He was beaten by just one skater, Patrick Roest, who was already qualified for the 10,000 m race. Engebråten and Norway were beaten and van der Poel was finally ready to pursue his biggest goal of the season. Fifth Oscar Award to Sweden Nils van der Poel is the fourth winner representing Sweden in the 62-year-long history of the Oscar Mathisen Award. In total, the trophy has been awarded Swedish skaters five times, as Tomas Gustafson won it both in 1982 and 1988. All previous awards to Swedish skaters have also been linked to great 10,000 m races: Jonny Nilsson at the World Championship all round in 1962, Göran Claeson at the World Championship all round in 1973, Tomas Gustafson at the European Championships all round in 1982 and Tomas Gustafson again at the Olympic Winter Games in 1988.