Hallum
Hallum is a village in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It is a village in the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân and it had a population of around 2,746 in January 2017. The primary language spoken is West Frisian language, West Frisian ...
) is a Dutch marathon
speed skater
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...
.
In 2005, she finished in third position of the
Essent Cup
Essent N.V. is a Dutch energy company based in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. It is a subsidiary of E.ON. It is a public limited liability corporation. Essent is the largest energy company in the country. Belgium is their second home market. Ess ...
and on 11 February of that year she announced to attack the women's world hour speed skating record, which was held by Lilian van Tol at that time. On 30 March 2005, she broke the world record in the
Thialf
Thialf () is an ice arena in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Thialf is used for long track speed skating, short track speed skating, ice hockey, figure skating, ice speedway, and non-sporting events. The outdoor rink was opened in 1967, and the indoo ...
stadium of
Heerenveen
Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...
and set the distance at 36.441,26 metres.Schaatsster Maria Sterk zet werelduurrecord op 36.441,26 meter frieschdagblad.nl. Starting with laps of 37 seconds she took an advantage of a minute over the former record before skating laps of 40 seconds. In the end her average laptime was 39.5 seconds, which was enough to break the record. The record set by van Tol was 34.507,30 metres.Maria Sterk doet aanval op werelduurrecord frieschdagblad.nl.
Sterk finished second in the 2006 Five Days of the Greenery. She was unable to win any of the races, but finished in second position in two races and gained enough points to claim the second place in the final rankings behind
Daniëlle Bekkering
Daniëlle Bekkering (born 25 December 1976 in Groningen (city), Groningen) is a Dutch marathon speed skating, speed skater, short track speed skating, short track speed skater, and cycle sport, cyclist who currently lives in Den Ham (Groningen). ...
, but in front of Elma de Vries.Maria Sterk wereldvanoranje.nl. She also managed to claim one second and two third positions at the
Essent Cup 2006–07
The 2006–07 Essent Cup of marathon speed skating was held in the Netherlands, between 7 October 2006 and 3 March 2007.
Men's results
Final rankings
Women's results
Final rankings
External linksOfficial website She is currently found at the third spot behind Bekkering and de Vries.