In the 44th Session Nils Larsson of Sweden proposed to organize an extra Session in September to
investigate the COVID-19 situation at that time. The Board of the IMSSC has made a rough investigation of
the current situation of COVID-19. As far as we can see this COVID-19 situation worldwide is going up-anddown.
So the situation in September is as unpredictable as it was in June 2021.
In the next figure (published in the Netherlands) the number of COVID-19 infections per week in different
continents is shown:
However, due to on going vaccination, it looks like that there is some “light in the tunnel”.
The Board expects that participation of masters in competitions in their “own continent" will be possible in
most cases, but international travel will still be hindered or restricted due to quarantine measures by
countries for not fully vaccinated athletes. The Board also expects that masters are still hesitating to travel
to countries where the COVID-19 situation is unclear.
Although the situation is unpredictable, the Board suggest that all countries prepare the speedskating
season 2021-2022 as planned as they already did.
The Board will carefully follow the developments of COVID-19 the next months!
R.I.P. Boris Leikin
Written by Andrew LoveThe USA masters Speedskating community would like to share the sad news that well known Masters Athlete Boris Leikin passed away in early July unexpectedly at the age of 69.
Farewell to Martin Fagna
Written by Sven-Åge SvenssonMartin Håkon Fagna, grand old man in Norwegian Master Speedskating, died on Monday , June 14th 2021 at
the age of 89.
44th IMSSC Session - June 19th 2021
Written by Keith Wright** IMPORTANT NOTICE**
To all IMSSC members who have not replied to your invitation for the meeting to be held on June 19th 2021, we need confirmation that you will be attending or not attending
Could you please reply via email immediately so the planning can be finalised
This is a very important session as there is so much to discuss and organise to develop masters speed skating for the next 2 years so your attendance is important to the meeting
IMSSC
Notes from the IMSSC Board
Written by Tjeerd SmiesOn the 8th May 2021 the Board of the IMSSC has held a video conference to prepare the IMSSC Session of 19th June 2021. The most important topics that were discussed are:
- Masters competitions in 2021-202 and the Covid-19 pandemic
The Board expects that the European ST competition (Sheffield, 19 & 20 November 2021) and MSG2022 (Berlin) and MAG2022 (Kolomna) can be organized in a “normal” way. Uncertain is the Covid-19 situation in the autumn 2021. The Board hopes that travel possibilities will improve all over the world and allow a lot of masters to participate in international competitions in 2021-2022, hopefully already this autumn. - Masters Short Track (ST) development plan
Keith Wright, one of the “founders” of Masters International Short track, has defined a preliminary plan to develop masters ST worldwide under the umbrella of the IMSSC. In the IMSSC Session 2021 this plan will be presented in more detail.
The IMSSC Constitution and Regulations (C&R) are extended with ST related rules. The concept will be discussed in the IMSSC Session in June 2021. The Masters International Short Track (MIST) games 2022 will be in Calgary on 27 & 28 March 2022. - The IMSSC discussed its role and commitment to developing speed skating worldwide and the importance of expanding its members and welcoming countries who are not currently members. It was stressed also that it is important to ensure current members received the backing from the IMSSC to continue staging events
- International masters competitions and/or MSG, MAG or MIST in Asia.
Kenji Takai has explained the very difficult and political situation in Japan. It is very difficult to get support by the Japanese Skating Federation to support international masters speedskating. He has also put effort in getting in contact with longtrack skaters in Korea and China. Unfortunately it will take time to get support in organizing international masters competitions in Asia and in particular in Japan. - Continuation of the relationship between ISU and IMSSC
The Board of the IMSSC will continue to safeguard the good relationship with the ISU. This is not only focused on longtrack speedskating but also short track. By defining a plan for ST development and the incorporation of ST rules into our C&R helps that the IMSSC will be recognized by the ISU as “the” worldwide international masters speedskating organisation.
The Board will inform more in detail all IMSSC Members in the video conference session at 19th June 2021.
Tjeerd Smies
President of the IMSSC
Preparation of next season 2021-2022
Written by Tjeerd Smies44th IMSSC Session
The preparation for next masters speedskating season have been started by organizing the next IMSSC Session, the annual meeting with all country representatives. Due to the lasting COVID-19 pandemic, the IMSSC will defer the in-person session 2021. The 44th IMSSC Session will be organized as an online video conference session. In the 44th Session all maters and proposals for 2021-2022 will be discussed. All Members of the IMSSC has received the invitation to join the online video conference and the agenda of the meeting. All Members will receive in time the link for the online conference.
The 44th IMSSC Session will be held on line on Saturday, 19th June 2021, at 16:00 h CET.
The proposed agenda for the 44th IMSSC Session is as follows:
- Approval of the Minutes of the online 43rd IMSSC Session 11 October 2020
- Alterations of Members in the IMSSC
- Approval of the IMSSC Records List 2020
- Evaluation of WWMG2020 Short Track and Long Track events
- Applications for Allround Games 2024 and Sprint Games 2024
- Applications for MIST Games
- Financial Report 2020, Financial Preview 2021
- Proposal by the Board to change the IMSSC Constitution and Regulations to accommodate masters short track speedskating
- Other proposals for changing IMSSC Constitution & Regulations
- New proposals for changing Requirements and Advices to Organisers of International Masters Competitions
- Other proposals
- Miscellaneous
The IMSSC Members are requested to send their proposals and candidature to organize the Masters Allround or Masters Sprint Games 2024 per email to the IMSSC Office at the latest on 15th May 2021.
We are optimistic that in 2021-2022 the speed skating season can be organized as in 2019 and earlier.
For your information, the Masters International Sprint Games 2022 will be organized in Berlin, Germany and the Masters International Allround Games 2022 in Kolomna, Russian Federation, as it was planned for 2021.
Hope to meet you at one or more masters competitions in the next season.
Tjeerd Smies
President of the IMSSC
I received today 7 Januari 2021 the formal cancellation of the Inzell Sprint Classic, that was planned on 23 & 24 Januari 2021 in the Max Aicher Arena in Inzell, due to current Covid-19 situation in Germany.
Let us hope that in 2021-2022 we are able to organize again exciting international masters competitions all over the world.
Greeting, Tjeerd Smies
Enclosed you will find the updated IMSSC competition calendar.
Due tot the COVID-19 pandemic, all masters competitions in December 2020 are cancelled.
The Board of the IMSSC will publish new information about the competitions in 2021 as soon as this information is available.
Tjeerd Smies
Although the IMSSC has published a calendar with all masters competition for 2020-2021, it is very uncertain if organizers are able and allowed to organize any masters competition due to the COVID-19 situation all over the world. This is the reason that no announcement of any competition is published yet on the IMSSC website. So making an entry for an international masters competition is not possible yet.
It is my expectation that the current COVID-19 situation will prevent any competition at least until the end of this year. This is already the case in the Netherlands, all competitions that would be organized by Schaatscircuit.nl/MCLN are cancelled until 31 December 2020 (see also the most actual Newsletter of Schaatscircuit.nl on https://www.schaatscircuit.nl/nieuws/nieuwsbrieven/) .
Furthermore it is impossible to travel in Europe and overseas, so it is impossible to travel for instance to Erfurt or Inzell.
Unfortunately the speedskating season 2020-2021 will be totally different from all previous seasons!
I am very sorry that I have no better news.
The IMSSC will publish any change in the COVID-19 and competition situation as soon as possible.
Tjeerd Smies
President
More...
IMSSC's new Secretary
Written by Tjeerd SmiesCalendar 2020-2021, updated version
Written by Tjeerd SmiesHere you can find an update of the IMSSC competition calendar 2020-2021:
International Masters Sprint Games 2021 and Allround Games 2021 shifted to 2022
On Sunday afternoon, October 11, the IMSSC, in a video conference with the representatives of 15 countries, decided not to hold Masters Sprint Games (MSG2021) and no Masters Allround Games (MAG2021). Both championships are postponed until the 2021-2022 season.
Two options were discussed intensively in the video conference on 11 October. The1st option was to postpone the decision to proceed with MSG2021 and MAG2021 until 31 December 2020. The other option was to immediately clarify whether MSG2021 and MAG2021 will continue.
The IMSSC held a virtual meeting on October 11, 2020, in lieu of the usual spring-time in-person annual meeting. This virtual meeting had an abbreviated agenda to address urgent issues for the upcoming season.
Minutes of the meeting can be found here:
S001-21_Minutes_of_43rd_Session.pdf
Of note, following a great deal of discussion which is documented in the minutes, the members present in the meeting agreed that the Masters Allround Games and Masters Sprint Games will not be held as previously planned during the 2020-2021 season.