| KNSB Dutch Allround Championships | |||||||||||||
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| Venue | Thialf, Heerenveen | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 27 and 28 December 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Medalist men | |||||||||||||
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| Medalist women | |||||||||||||
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The 2009 KNSB Dutch Allround Championships in speed skating were held at the Thialf ice stadium in Heerenveen, Netherlands on 27 and 28 December 2008. The championships were part of the 2008–09 speed skating season.
The Dutch Allround Championships of speed skating, organised by the KNSB, is the official Dutch championship to determine the Dutch Allround champion, in contrast to the KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships, which determines a Dutch champion for each distance. The Allround distance championships date back to 1901 for men and 1955 for women.
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. In the Olympic Games, long-track speed skating is usually referred to as just "speed skating", while short-track speed skating is known as "short track". The ISU, the governing body of both ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track skating".
Thialf is an ice arena in Heerenveen, Netherlands. The stadium is used for long track speed skating, short track speed skating, ice hockey, figure skating, ice speedway, and non-sports events. The outdoor rink was opened in 1967, and the indoor stadium was opened in 1986. Several world records were set in the indoor stadium. Annually, Thialf hosts two Speed Skating World Cup events. The arena has a capacity of 12,500 seats. Jan de Jong was the ice rink master at Thialf for many years.
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The men's and women's winners, Ireen Wüst and Sven Kramer both prolonged their title.
Ireen Wüst is a Dutch long track allround speed skater.
Sven Kramer is a Dutch long track speed skater who has won an all-time record nine World Allround Championships as well as a record ten European Allround Championships. He is the Olympic champion of the 5000 meters at the Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, and won a record 20 gold medals at the World Single Distance Championships; eight in the 5000 meters, five in the 10,000 meters, and seven in the team pursuit. Kramer is the current world record holder in the team pursuit, and broke the world records in the 5000 m and 10,000 m three times. By winning the 2010 World Allround Championship, Kramer became the first speed skater in history to win four consecutive world allround championships, and eight consecutive international allround championships. He was undefeated in the 18 international allround championships he participated in from the 2006/2007 season until the 2016/2017 season. From November 2007 to March 2009 he was ranked first in the Adelskalender, but despite his dominance as an all-round skater has since been second on that list to Shani Davis by 0.15 to 0.3 points.
