Cornelius Kersten

Other information	BUSINESS VENTURE In 2020 he and his partner Ellia Smeding started their own coffee business called Brew '22, which is based in Heerenveen, Netherlands. The venture was intended as a way to help fund his and Smeding's bid to compete at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, and they also hoped to support other speed skaters with the profits. "Long track speed skating is a beautiful but quite an unknown sport, particularly in the United Kingdom, without a single 400 metre rink in the country. Since speed skating is so obscure, it is very hard to find funding through sponsorship. So we decided to try and fund our campaign ourselves. My partner Ellia and I have been passionate about coffee for a long time now. Whenever we travelled around for World Cups, training camps or other competitions it would always be hard to find good coffee. We put our favourite beans together and came up with three blends and two single origins, all named after specific athletes' characteristics with colourways inspired by the Olympic rings. This is also where the name Brew '22 came from, we want to use our company to 'brew' ourselves to the 2022 Games." (LinkedIn profile, 04 Oct 2023; olympics.com, 07 Feb 2022; brew22.com, 10 Jan 2022; bbc.co.uk, 17 Dec 2020; maap.cc, 08 Sep 2020; switchtheplay.com, 13 Jun 2020) NETHERLANDS TO GREAT BRITAIN Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, he is eligible to compete for Great Britain through his mother. "The idea has always been there to represent Great Britain. I have always loved watching Team GB perform and seeing them on TV. They always seemed like the best, the most beautiful and the strongest team and the connection was always there. Skating is a bit of a game for me. And I really want to play it out, reach my maximum potential. You're done in the Netherlands if you can't scale up to a bigger team and at that time I couldn't do that. Through England [Team GB] I was able to develop further and progress step by step." (volkskrant.nl, 10 Jan 2022; eurosport.co.uk, 21 Oct 2021) FURTHER EDUCATION He has also studied at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. (Facebook profile, 30 Aug 2021)
Hero / Idol	British short track skater Elise Christie. (eurosport.co.uk, 21 Oct 2021)
Sporting philosophy / motto	"It's an everlasting quest, and a very unnatural sport. Humans have evolved to stand up straight and walk forward, and in speed skating you're springing down and pushing to the side. When you hit it, it's a beautiful feeling." (eurosport.co.uk, 21 Oct 2021)

Club / Team

Team Novus: Netherlands

Hobbies	Cooking, listening to music. (team-novus-skating.com, 20 Feb 2022)
Ambitions	To compete at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan-Cortina. (iceskating.org.uk, 07 Jan 2023)
Milestones	In 2023 he became the first speed skater representing Great Britain to win a medal at the world championships in 72 years. He claimed bronze in the 1000m at the 2023 World Single Distances Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Great Britain's previous world championship medallist in the sport was Johnny Cronshey in 1949. (SportsDeskOnline, 11 Oct 2023; iceskating.org.uk, 05 Mar 2023)

Name of coach

Daniel Greig [club], AUS

Injuries	An ankle injury affected him during the 2022/23 season. (iceskating.org.uk, 05 Mar 2023; Instagram profile, 04 Mar 2023) In 2015 he damaged his front tooth, broke his collarbone, and sustained a concussion. He was out of action for five months as a result of his injuries. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018) He has battled regular groin injuries during his career. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018)
Memorable sporting achievement	Winning bronze in the 1000m at the 2023 World Single Distances Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands. (iceskating.org.uk, 05 Mar 2023)

Reason for choosing this sport

He became interested in skating at age five after he joined his father and two brothers at a local ice rink. "My father took me to the rink and I liked doing it, so it stuck."

Most influential person in career

His parents. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018)

When and where did you begin this sport?

He began speed skating at a young age in Haarlem, Netherlands.

Nicknames

Corno, Corn (Instagram profile, 04 Mar 2023; corneliuskersten.nl, 04 Feb 2018)

corneliuskersten.nl
www.facebook.com/corneliuskersten1
twitter.com/kerstncornelius

Other sports	He has competed in road cycling as part of the Botje Racing fixed gear team in the Netherlands. (Instagram profile, 30 Sep 2022; maap.cc, 08 Sep 2020)
Famous relatives	His partner Ellia Smeding represented Great Britain in speed skating at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. (Instagram profile, 11 Aug 2023; SportsDeskOnline, 26 Oct 2022)