Top skaters with years of ingrained motor patterns don't jump over to a radical technique overnight, especially in mid-season. But the success of individual skaters, primarily Dutch, who have made the transition has convinced others to try them. In Norway, opinions are mixed. There is no doubt that they will revolutionize speed skating. Meanwhile, Norwegian national team trainer Havard Sletten was more critical.
Slap skates have the biggest impact on skaters with technical faults.
On the men's side the problem has been to find sufficiently strong slapskates. We hope that problem is now solved. German female star Gunda Neiman reacted in another way entirely after losing to another young slapskater from the Netherlands, Toni de Jong. She claimed the skates were illegal and should be outlawed. That won't happen.