Biography
Thomas was an allround speed skater, but favored the shorter distances. The years 1995 and 1996 found her at her peak: in both those years she was Dutch allround champion as well as Dutch sprint champion and came in second at the European allround championships behind Gunda Niemann. She was third in the 1995 World Allround Championships in Savalen and in 1996 won both the 1,000 m and 1,500 m in the inaugural World Single Distance Championships in Hamar.
On March 20, 1999 in Calgary, she broke the world record on the 1,500 m by 1.5 seconds, skating 1.55.50, which record would only be bested two years later by Anni Friesinger. That weekend she also broke the world record for the combined times for the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, and 3000m in one tournament (the "mini combination") and reached 4th place in the adelskalender.
In the summer of 2006 she was a participant in the first season of the celebreality show Sterren Dansen Op Het IJs, the Dutch version of Skating with Celebrities, where she ended up in fourth place.
She retired from competitive skating in November 2006.
Read more about this topic: Annamarie Thomas
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