First the two long-distance skaters Bob de Jong and Boris Kusmirak. The track record, of Mark Ooijevaar, is 13.43,94. Both skaters here pass at 1200m in 1.43,06. It's pretty balanced. De Jong 3.5, 3.8, 3.6, 3.8 and Kusmirak 3.6, 3.1, 3.9, 3.7. The race is flat. De Jong continues 3.7, 3.6, 3.4 and Kusmirak 3.8, 3.8, 3.7. But the 21-year-old doesn't want to let De Jong go, and continues with a 3.5 lap, versus another 3.4 of De Jong. Yet the light between them becomes more. a 3.1 for De Jong, 3.7 again for Kusmirak. At 5200m laps 3.1 and 3.8, times 7.18,55 and 7.20,27. Where the speed increases for De Jong, it decreases for Kusmirak. 3.0 and 3.9. Then 3.1 and 4.1 at 6000m. Kusmirak goes back to a 33.8 lap, De Jong 33.0, and far away from the Track record. 3.0 De Jong, 3.7 Kusmirak, who seems to be alert again. It continues with 3.0s for De Jong and 3.8 or 3.9 for Kusmirak. At 8400 Kusmirak is back to 34s, a 34.1 there, and a 4.4 next, while De Jong continues his flat race, and then finishes with a 2.8, 2.0 and 1.4, to 13.52,70 and will finish 12th in the championships, with Kusmirak in front of him, because with 14.11,14 Kusmirak keeps enough to stay in the lead in the ranking. Ooijevaar still has his track record.

We don't expect anything spectacular in the pair between Bjarne Rykkje and Berden de Vries. Once in his life, Bjarne was below 14 minutes with 13.59,96, De Vries has never recorded a 10k before. Rykkje starts faster than De Jong, at least for the first 4000m, with high 33s. De Vries low 34s. Passing at 4000 for Rykkje 5.38,68. De Jong had 5.38,81. But after the 4k, Bob went down to the 33.4s and .0s. For  Rykkje, here the laps go a bit up, 3.9, 4.1. De Vries is already in the 35s. Rykkje 4.3, 4.1, and at 6000m Rykkje 8.29,67 after another 4.2, De Vries 8.41,73 and a 5.6 lap. Rykkje comes back into the 33s but has to have a good finish to finish ahead of Kusmirak. It's a few seconds difference. But after 8000m, De Vries goes down from 5.6 to 5.0 and 4.9. Rykkje's laps get up now to above 34. Before the last lap, the difference to make up is 0.5 second for Rykjke and it doesn't get better. A 5.0 final lap and the time is 14.11,79, third. Berden de Vries finishes with 4.8, 4.3 and 3.4 in 14.31,90. Rykkje leads in the rankings with 158,931. The time of De Vries brings him in 12th position overall, De Jong is 11th, Kusmirak 10th with 160,062 point.

Carl Verheijen and Ted Jan Bloemen should show something now. The first 2000 are easy, flat. They pass at 2000m in 2.48,00 (Verheijen) and 2.49,31. Bloemen uses Verheijen at the crossings. After 3000m both increase their speed, especially Bloemen, with a 2.7 lap and 2.9 he comes closer to Verheijen who has 3.0 and 3.2. 4000m, 5.34,13 Verheijen and 5.34,98 Bloemen who is back in 33.3. A sudden 3.7 for Verheijen is causing some caution. How is he? 3.3 for both again. Now Bloemen takes the initiative after 5000m. A 2.9 for him, 3.6 Verheijen, who will not give up. A 3.2, 3.1 and passing at 6000 in 8.21,19 Verheijen, 8.21,02 Bloemen. The inner track now decides on who has the fastest lap. Verheijen 2.9, Bloemen 3.1, Bloemen 2.6, Verheijen 3.0. But Bloemen has more. 2.8 and Verheijen only 3.2, he has to cross behind Bloemen. 2.8 and 3.4. A 3.3 for both and at 8000 they pass in 11,07,26 Verheijen and 11.05,68 Bloemen. They continue with mid 33s, it's not easy on this ice. But Verheijen keeps fighting. With two laps to go he passes with 2.9, and comes closer. Bloemen answers with 3.0, but Verheijen has 2.2. It's a sprint for the victory, and Bloemen gets it. 13.50,31 with a final lap of 31.2, Verheijen 13.50,73 with a 1.3 final lap. Ooijevaar still holds the track record. Bloemen has 157,416 points, Verheijen 158,249. 

After ice preparation young Koen Verweij and Jan Blokhuijsen will have a bit better ice than Bloemen. Verweij needs 13.59,31, Blokhuijsen 14.00,75. They never skated a 10k before, but know each other well, winning silver together in Korea at inline championships. They are not scared for the distance but it will be a tough job. At 2000m they pass in 2.50,64 and 2.50,70. With a 3.3 Verweij has the same pace as Bloemen. He is at age 17 faster than Kramer ever was. At the crossover, Verweij steps into the rhythm and slipstream of Blokhuijsen in front of him as if it was an inline race. 4000m, passing times 5.37,57 Verweij, 5.38,70 Blokhuijsen. Verweij keeps the 33s and has lost Blokhuijsen who is skating 34s that slowly creep up. It will be hard to qualify and keep Bloemen behind him. 6000m, 8.26,43 with his first 34.0 lap, 8.29,98 Blokhuijsen. A 3.8 again for Verweij, who has passed Blokhuijsen in the standings. But he keeps fighting for his place in the ranking. Bloemen had a splendid finish in his battle with Carl. Little Koen has to do it on his own. At 8000m, he passes in 11.15,38. With Blokhuijsen dropping lap after lap to 35s, and a 36, he is behind Carl Verheijen in the ranking. A series of 3.5 for Verweij. A 2.6 at the end and a great 14.02,47 in Groningen with a very flat schedule. 14.23,01 the time for Blokhuijsen. Bloemen still leads in points, then Verweij with 157,574.

Tim Roelofsen needs 13.54,61 Ben Jongejan is his pairmate. They start carefully. 2000m passing 2.52,86 Jongejan, 2.52,65 Roelofsen. Roelofsen is losing too much to Bloemen, with his 33 low laps. 4000m passing. 5.39,72 Jongejan, 5.39,63 Roelofsen. The laptimes are faster than those of Verweij, who is still ahead in time with a stronger start. Their laptimes go down. 6000m, 8.27,14 J, and 8.26,84 R. The laptimes are in the lower half of the 33s. THey are overtaking Verweij, which would mean a pb for Roelofsen, who has 14.13,01. It's a good fight and the inner turn has its value here. Jongejan is also close to his pb of 13.58,07. 8000m 11.13,34 J and 11.13,48 Roelofsen, who then has a 2.9 next lap. Back in the 33s, but Roelofsen skates a pb of 13.59,68. His total points are 157,670, behind Verweij. Jongejan took the lead with 14.01,20 and will finish on the final podium, with 157,040 points.

The final pair, Kramer and Olde Heuvel. Kramer is curious what he can do, and so are we. He takes the lead from the start, with 34,49. They look like twins. Two tall men, with a similar technique. 2.44,50 is Kramer's passing time at 2k, 2.44,93 for Oldeheuvel. Laptimes are in the 32s, then Kramer looks back, like 'where are you?' throws in a 3.2 and then has another 2.4. Old Heuvel has even laps, 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, 3.1 and passing in 5.29,74 at 4k, Kramer faster, 5.28,36. The laptimes of Kramer go up and down, seems to play, now 3.3 and 3.4, but then, he was ill. Olde Heuvel may stand in the way of '4 victories', with 2.9 and 2.8. With Kramer it looks smoother. And he increases his speed. 2.7 Kramer, 3.3 Olde Heuvel. 6000m: 8.14,44 Kramer, 8.15,43 Olde Heuvel. Then the difference is made, 2.5 Kramer, 3.8 Olde Heuvel. It's close to the track record. Another 3.2 Kramer, 3.3 Olde Heuvel, who has problems, it seems. 4.0 next lap for him, 2.9 Kramer, then 3.3, 2.8. Wouter 4.0 and 4.4. 8000 passing, 10,59,33 and 11,04,91. Will Kramer skate a track record? 2,8, 3.0, 3.1, OH 3.9, 4.2, 4.0. Last two laps 1.9 (certainly a track record)  and 1.0, to a new track record of 13.41,31. Olde Heuvel finishes in 13.54,87, the fifth time, but he is second in the ranking with 155,731 point.
Sven Kramer won with 153,513 points, but more important: with 4 distance victories, which had not happened in the Netherlands since Kees Verkerk in 1966.