Maria Sterk is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 marathon speed skater

Speed skating

Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...

.

In 2005 she finished in third position of the Essent Cup and on 11 February of that year she announced to attack the women's world hour speed skating record, which was held by Lian van Tol at that time. On 30 March 2005 she broke the world record in the Thialf

Thialf

Thialf is an ice arena in Heerenveen, Netherlands. The stadium is used for long track speed skating, short track speed skating, ice hockey, figure skating, and non-sports events. The outdoor rink was opened in 1967, and the indoor stadium was opened in 1986. Several world records were set in the...

 stadium of Heerenveen

Heerenveen

Heerenveen is a town in the Heerenveen municipality of the province of Friesland , in the north of the Netherlands.- History :The town was established in 1551 by three lords as a location for the purpose of digging peat which was used for fuel, hence the name...

 and set the distance at 36.441,26 metres. During her attempt to break the record music by Anastacia

Anastacia

Anastacia is an American singer-songwriter. Anastacia has been highly successful in Europe, Asia, South Africa and South America, but has had only minor success in her native United States...

, Anouk

Anouk

Anouk Teeuwe , professionally known by the mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer.After being discovered by Golden Earring frontman Barry Hay, Anouk had her breakthrough in the Netherlands in 1997 with the single "Nobody's Wife"...

 and Tina Turner

Tina Turner

Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

 was played to stimulate her. 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.

Sterk finished second in the 2006 Five Days of the Greenery

2006 Six Days of the Greenery

The 2006 Six Days of the Greenery of marathon speed skating was held in the Netherlands, between December 11 and December 16, 2006. The tournament hosted six races of 100 laps in six days in the chase for the brussels sprout suit....

. She was unable to win one 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

Daniëlle Bekkering is a Dutch marathon speed skater, short track speed skater and cyclist who currently lives in Den Ham. Bekkering has several nicknames like Beeks, Daantje and Dikkie Dik. Her sister, Eyelien is also a cyclist.Bekkering started her speed skating career, aged 9 in 1986...

, but in front of Elma de Vries

Elma de Vries

Elma de Vries is a Dutch marathon speed skater and inline speed skater. She is the older sister of marathon speed skater Bob de Vries.-Biography:...

. She also managed to claim a second and two third positions at the Essent Cup 2006-07

Essent Cup 2006-07

The 2006-07 Essent Cup of marathon speed skating will be held in the Netherlands, between October 7 and March 3, 2007.-Men's results:-Rankings:Rankings as of 30 December 2006-Women's results:-Rankings:Rankings as of 30 December 2006...

, which is still running. She is currently found at the third spot behind Bekkering and De Vries.