Skaters Schulting, Nuis named Dutch Sportspersons of 2018

Short track speed skater Suzanne Schulting and speed skater Kjeld Nuis were named Dutch Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year 2018 respectively at a gala in Amsterdam on Wednesday night.

In the voting, the 21-year-old Schulting, who won the first Olympic gold medal in short track for the Netherlands in the womens's 1,000m in PyeongChang, defeated short track speed skater Jorien ter Mors and cyclists Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten.

Nuis, 29, grabbed the 1,000m and 1,500m gold medals at the Pyeong Chang Winter Olympics, and beat MXGP motor cyclist Jeffrey Herlings and gymnast Epke Zonderland in the voting.

The team sprint track cyclists were named Sports Team of the Year.

Speed skating coach Jac Orie and tennis coach Raemon Sluiter, who is directing WTA ranking top 10 player Kiki Bertens , were both voted Coach of the Year. Bibian Mentel became Paralympian Sporter of the Year for clinching Olympic titles on the snowboard cross and the banked slalom. The 19-year-old Ajax captain and Dutch soccer international Matthijs de Ligt was voted Talent of the Year.