'Thank you Sjinkie' clip for celebrating his career and retirement  © NOS/KNSB

The 2026 ISU Short Track European Championships in Tilburg, Netherlands concluded on Sunday with a ceremony celebrating the remarkable career of the host nation’s Short Track icon, Sjinkie Knegt.

The 36-year-old pioneer skater, who for many years was the face of Dutch Short Track, announced his retirement from the sport in the beginning of December. He had been struggling with a gluteal injury for some time, with recovery slow, and realised that the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games were out of reach.

The man himself could not hold back his tears as his former teammates lined up to celebrate him, and tributes were paid from the Netherlands team and some of the world’s best skaters, who had been inspired by him.

“If you hear so many nice words it is almost impossible to keep your eyes dry,” Knegt said. I enjoyed it, as I always did with Short Track. I enjoyed every day of competing.

“During your career, you don’t really think about what you’re doing for the sport in your country, but now that I’ve stopped with my professional career, I see what I did and what I did for Short Track in Holland.”

He said he has no clear plan of what to do after hanging up his skates.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m coming back to Short Track as a coach or something else. Or I will do something different. I really have no idea yet.”

Xandra Velzeboer, who won four gold medals in Tilburg, paid her own tribute.

“I’m happy that I’m a part of his career, to have skated together with him for the past six years or so,” Velzeboer said.

“When I was younger, he was someone I always looked up to. In the beginning, the stadiums were not that full but now they are and that is also because of him.

“Now so many people enjoy Short Track and I really hope that I can maybe also be an example for young kids to want to go and do Short Track, and maybe I’ll also see them (in the same team) when I’m older.”

Sjinkie Knegt (NED) prepares for action during the ISU World Cup Short Track in Dresden, Germany, in 2023 © ISU

“I dreamed of finishing my career with a medal in the men’s relay in Milan. But I am still not fit and I also have to be realistic. I have accepted that I will not make the Olympic Games myself,” Knegt said in a Royal Dutch Skating Federation (KNSB) press release.

“I will discuss with the national coach how I can contribute in another way to winning a relay medal in Milan.”

When Knegt grabbed 1000m bronze at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, it was the first Olympic Short Track medal of many for one of the sport’s powerhouses, paving the way for generations to come.

The trailblazer had made his Games debut four years earlier, at Vancouver 2010, and would compete at four Olympic Winter Games, his best result a silver medal in the 1500m at PyeongChang 2018.

Born in the village of Bantega, in Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands – a region with a rich skating tradition – Knegt took up the sport at the age of nine. He soon gravitated toward Short Track, joined a club in Heerenveen, and quickly showed promise.

In the late 2000s, he moved up through the national and international circuits and, by the end of the first decade of this millennium, he was competing in the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup.

After his debut on the World Cup circuit in the 2007/08 season, aged 17, Knegt was a prominent feature in international Short Track for almost two decades, much of it spent at the top of the overall World Cup standings.

Regarded as one of the most successful Dutch Short Track speed skaters of all time, “The bolt from Bantega” had won milestone European Championships relay and 1500m titles in 2011, and became the first skater from his country to claim an individual overall European title in 2012.

Sjinkie Knegt (NED) roars over the line in the 1000m final at the 2018 ISU European Short Track Championships in Dresden, Germany © ISU

The Dutch Sportsman of the Year 2015 continued to break barriers for his home country after his Sochi 2014 success.

In total, Knegt has won no fewer than 37 medals at European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games, including 13 European and five world titles. He became overall World champion in 2015 and was overall European champion three times.

For many years, Knegt was the driving force of the Dutch relay team. His finish in a sold-out and electric Ahoy Rotterdam as the anchor skater of the winning relay team at the 2017 World Championships produced iconic images that remain vivid in the memory of many.

In January 2019, Sjinkie Knegt suffered severe burns while lighting a wood-burning stove. After a long rehabilitation, he fought his way back impressively and returned to elite competition, including participation in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Team Netherlands, with Sjinkie Knegt, Dennis Visser, Itzhak de Laat and Daan Breeuwsma, celebrate their relay victory at the 2017 ISU World Short Track Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands © ISU

His last major podium was a silver medal in the 2000m Mixed Relay at the 2025 European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Dresden, Germany, 14 years after his first international podium.

Knegt’s 1500m world record, 2:07.943, set in Salt Lake City (USA) in November 2016, still stands, and his achievements on the ice throughout his impressive 18-year international career will remain milestones in Short Track history.

“It is great to see Sjinkie Knegt honored in Tilburg at the ISU Short Track European Championships for his incredible career achievements,” ISU President Jae Youl Kim said.

Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands celebrates after winning the men's 1500m final during the ISU World Cup Short Track in 2018 in Salt Lake City, USA. © ISU

“As well as being a hero in the Netherlands, he has dazzled and entertained fans on the world stage.

“Sjinkie is also an inspiration, starting with some lessons as a child and working his way to the top of the sport is a motivational story for any youngster getting into skating.”

Rémy de Wit, Technical Director of the KNSB, said Dutch Short Track owes Knegt “a great deal of gratitude”.

“Through his performances and his personality, he was for many years the figurehead of Short Track in the Netherlands. When you mention his first name, almost everyone knows who you mean – and that is reserved for the very greatest in Dutch elite sport,” de Wit said in the KNSB statement.

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