Essent ISU Euro Speed Skating Champs 2014 Facts and Figures Day 1
Ladies
In the ladies’ competition defending champion Wüst was the favourite from the start. The other skaters expected to compete for podium places were Martina Sábliková (CZE) and Claudia Pechstein (GER).
After winning the 500 metres four years in a row, Karolina Erbanová (CZE) finished second on Saturday.
She crossed the finish line in 38.81sec but she did so in a horizontal position, falling just before the finish, which cost her some time.
At that point she was the fastest, but the last two to go were Wüst and Julia Skokova. Wüst won the race in 38.77, 0.04sec faster than Erbanová. Skokova took third place in 39.01, a personal best time.
“I am fine after my fall but I am disappointed for I feel it cost me victory at the distance,” said Erbanová, while Wüst said: “It was a good race, it is a while since I skated a 38.”
In fourth place was Yekaterina Shikhova (RUS) and fifth place was shared by Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus (POL) and Yevgeniya Dmitriyeva (RUS), for whom 39.59 was a personal best.
There were also personal bests for Olga Graf (RUS) and Camila Farestveit (NOR), while Jelena Peeters’ 40.82 was a new Belgian record. Pechstein finished a long way behind Wüst with 40.40 and Sábliková, with 40.89, seems to have even less chance of the overall title.
In the 3,000 metres Skokova was the first below 4:10 in 4:08.28, taking the overall lead with 80.390 points. Her 3,000m time eventually brought her seventh place.
In the next pair Marije Joling (NED) skated a strong 4:04.23, even faster than her more experienced compatriot Diane Valkenburg, who was disappointed by her slow start and finished in 4:06:82.
But another Dutch debutant, Yvonne Nauta, was faster than Joling. She was the only skater at this distance who improved her personal best, to 4:02.63.
In the next pair the last Dutch skater was the first of ‘the big three’ to race. Wüst was as impressive in the 3,000 as she was in the 500, winning the distance in 4:02.02. Wüst said that she had been aiming for the track record of 4:00.26, held by former champion Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, but in the last two laps she slowed down too much and had to let that go, much to her disappointment: “The times of Joling and Nauta had been really good and I thought I needed a track record to stay ahead of Sábliková,” she said. As it turned out, however, she was wrong and nobody could better her 4:02. Certainly not Pechstein, who failed to get into her rhythm and finished in 4:06.53. She said afterwards: “Nothing is lost, it is not the Olympics, and the advantage is that I am not worn out.” Sábliková, meanwhile, just reached the podium at the expense of Joling by finishing in 4:04.22 with a very even race. Sáblikova said: “I think it was not such a bad race, I trained so hard these past weeks that I am a little tired. And Ireen in this shape is hard to beat.” Wüst leads after the first day with 79.106 points, an advantage over Skokova of 1.284sec in the 1500m, while Joling is unexpectedly in third with 80.796, followed by Shikhova, Valkenburg, Bachleda-Curus, Nauta and Dmitriyeva. Pechstein and Sábliková are down in 10th and 11th respectively.
