Mass start and team pursuits: a Dutch affair
The programme then shifted to the chaotically beautiful mass start races, which gave the home crowd the exact performances, and results, they hoped to see.
The women’s race belonged to Beijing 2022 team pursuit bronze medallist Marijke Groenewoud, who controlled the final sprint to earn her first World Cup win of the season, finishing ahead of Mia Manganello of the United States and Park Ji-woo of the Republic of Korea.
The men’s mass start, meanwhile, belonged to pure passion and experience.  At 39 years of age, the Sochi 2014 10,000m Olympic champion Jorrit Bergsma showed again that his race sense remains as sharp as ever. After joining an early breakaway, he bided his time, reset, and struck decisively with two laps to go. No one reeled him back in.
Bergsma crossed the line alone to secure his second mass start World Cup victory of the season, then took a triumphant lap of Thialf, the wind lifting his unmistakable mullet as the crowd cheered. Chung Jae Won of the Republic of Korea claimed silver, with Bart Hoolwerf of the Netherlands taking bronze.
The final session ended with the team sprint, an event still outside the Olympic programme, where both Dutch squads delivered track record performances.
The 2025-26 ISU World Cup season continues in Hamar, Norway, from 12-14 December, as the race to Milano Cortina 2026 inches closer and closer…