New Dutch national skating stadium in Almere

The Hague, Sep 12 (IANS): The Dutch city of Almere, in the province of Flevoland, was chosen as location for the new national top speed skating stadium in the Netherlands.

The stadium, called the Icedome, should be ready to host international speed skating competitions in the 2016-17 season, reports Xinhua.

Almere succeeds the Thialf stadium in Heerenveen, which was the traditional home of Dutch speed skating, a popular sport in the Netherlands, for decades.

The Dutch skating association KNSB and the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC) had already made the choice for Almere, but the other candidates Thialf in Heerenveen and Transportium in Zoetermeer objected to that decision.

That objection was rejected Wednesday.