Facts about Esmee Visser, One of the Most Successful Rookies of 2018 PyeongChang

Esmee Visser

Being a debutant of Winter Olympic Games, Esmee Visser managed to claim a gold medal and surprise everyone by her brilliant performance. Let’s find out a bit more about this young Dutch speed skater.

Personal Information

Esmee Visser

Esmee Visser

Esmee Visser was born on January 26, 1996, in Leiden, Netherlands. Besides speed skating, Esmee also likes inline skating, cycling and tennis. Moreover, she is a student of pharmaceutical sciences.

The athlete tells that she is a perfectionist and feels very nervous before races: “I want to do it right. I'm afraid I'm not doing going to do it well enough. Fortunately, I can deal with my nerves better and I manage to calm myself down before the start. I often seek the people around me who can cheer me up. I also see the races more and more like training so I know I don't suddenly have to skate differently or anything".

International Achievements

Esmee Visser poster

Esmee Visser poster

At the moment, Esmee Visser can’t boast of a great number of medals at international competitions. But 2017/18 season turned out to be the best in her career to the date. The athlete won a gold medal in 3000m at 2018 European Single Distance Championships.

Moreover, Esmee made a successful Olympic debut at 2018 Winter Olympics, claiming gold in 5000m race. She showed her best result in this discipline, finishing the race in 6:50.23. A curious fact is that the speed skater qualified for the Dutch national team just a few months before the start of the Olympics and became a real national hero so fast. Moreover, her victory is even more special as the Dutch athletes haven’t won gold medals in this discipline for 30 years.

Visser, who became one of the youngest Dutch gold medalists at Winter Olympics, shared her emotions after the race: “It was a fun skate. I told myself to just enjoy the race, focus on how I skate and what I've done in training, then something is possible. But I never imagined this. I thought a podium would be good, I never thought about this (gold)”.

Personal Records

Esmee Visser poster

Esmee Visser poster

Here are the best results of Esmee Visser for her speed skating career:

500 m – 41.55 (22 December 2015, Eisstadion Inzell, Inzell)

1000 m – 1:21.30 (20 December 2015, Eisstadion Inzell, Inzell)

1500 m – 2:02.23 (24 January 2016, Thialf, Heerenveen)

3000 m – 4:04.69 (7 February 2018, Gangneung Oval, Gangneung)

5000 m – 6:50.23 (16 February 2018, Gangneung Oval, Gangneung)

All in all, though it’s really cool to have a gold Olympic medal among the first international victories, we believe that the major career achievements are still ahead for the Dutch speed skater. Esmee Visser trains 26 hours a week and her efforts will definitely lead to more victories and titles.

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