Ireen Wüst clinches the European Speed Skating title for the Netherlands
Dutch skater Ireen Wüst has won the European Speed Skating title in the Vikingship Olympic icerink in Hamar (NOR) on Sunday. The Dutch athlete was the best of 27 ladies from 18 different countries. Wüst took the women’s title by a very large margin, winning the first three distances and finishing third in the longest distance.
Another Dutch pair, Yvonne Nauta and Koen Verweij, took the second places and Martina Sábliková (CZE) and Håvard Bøkko (NOR) were the bronze medallists. On the final day Wüst skated to a championship record in the 1500 metres, as well as with her total points score of 159.736, and there were four personal best times.
Ladies
The 1500m is an interesting distance in these championships, because apart from skaters trying to deliver their best race possible, two other things are at stake: finishing high enough to qualify for the final distance, the 5,000 metres, and to qualify for the World Allround Championships, among the best 14 in this case. As the best Norwegian, Ida Njåtun, was 14th after the first day it remained to be seen if she would keep the flag flying for the host country, and behind her the sole Belgian skater also hoped to make the top 14.
Since only eight skaters now qualify for the 5,000m it has become harder to race that distance. After the first day Wüst led by 3.86 points from Skokova. They were in the final pair and both were expected to race another distance, along with Marije Joling (NED), Diane Valkenburg (NED) and Nauta, who were in the top eight in both lists.
Also expected to qualify were Sábliková, who was 11th overall based on her third place in the 3,000m; Yekaterina Shikhova (RUS), based on her fourth place in the rankings which she could also improve on; and the last place could go to Olga Graf (RUS), who only needed to pass Yevgeniya Dmitriyeva (RUS) to be eighth both in the ranking and in the 3,000m, provided nobody passed her in the ranking form behind.
Claudia Pechstein (GER) had a chance based on her fifth place in the 3,000m, while Katarzyna Bachleda-Curus (POL) was sixth in the ranking, and she only needed to climb one spot to take the place of Pechstein. For the other skaters it did not seem possible to qualify.
In spite of a good race Jelena Peeters (BEL) remained behind Njåtun, and so Norway managed to hold on to their starting position for the World Allround. Sábliková clocked 1:57.46, fifth at this distance, and climbed into eighth place overall. Graf then beat Pechstein and took fourth place with 1:57.40, manoeuvring into seventh overall and into the final distance.
Nauta, seventh after two distances, was even faster with 1:57.28, and as Bachleda-Curus’s energy was gone Nauta moved up to fifth overall. Her time was the third best, behind Wüst and Skokova who took the first two places. Wüst, starting like a sprinter, had the strongest race ever seen in European Championships and she set a Championship record with 1:54.87. Last year she had finished in 1:56.39 as a Championship record.
Skokova finished well behind Wüst in 1:57.02, but it was still enough to stay second in the ranking. But behind Wüst and Skokova much had changed. Joling lost her third position overall with a poor 1,500m, and Shikhova moved up to third. However she declined to skate the final distance, which brought Pechstein in to race that distance instead. Wüst was leading by exactly two whole points (20 seconds) from Skokova, Valkenburg came next, 7.83sec behind, and then came Nauta.
The 5,000m started with Pechstein and Graf. Pechstein finished in 7:05.44, Graf in 7:12.57, just enough to keep Pechstein behind her in the ranking. Then Sábliková was paired with Joling. Alas the Dutchwoman, who had excelled on the first day, did not find her rhythm and with a time of 7:17.43 dropped to eighth place overall. Sábliková looked as strong as ever, and with 6:58.13 and 162.559 points she made another jump in the ranking. Valkenburg and Skokova did not skate fast enough to keep Sábliková behind them, although Valkenburg finished in a decent 7:09.41 and Skokova gave all she had and reached a personal best time of 7:22.09.
In the final pair Nauta and Wüst skated side by side for most of the race. Nauta needed to be about two seconds faster than Valkenburg to finish on the podium, and could afford to lose only 4.25sec to Sáblikova to get silver. Nauta showed she was a world class skater by reaching her goal, finishing in 6:59.32 and gathering 162.253 points.
Wüst could take it relatively easy and finished in 7:03.40, third place in the distance, taking the title with a Championship record 159.736 points (the previous record was 160.533), a very large margin of victory not seen in a long time. “It was a stable, good tournament, with extremes in the 500 and 1,500,” she said.
“I am very satisfied with all my races and feel ready for Sochi. In the last race I wanted to be prudent. Why would I use too much energy, I need to stay fit and healthy for Sochi. I am not worried that I had my peak too early, I feel and believe I can be better than this.
“I am growing in this season. I must say I was surprised about the low level in the 3,000m, but I do not know where the others are in their build-up towards the Olympics, everybody has a different route, they will certainly be at their best then. I cannot wait, let the Olympics begin!”
Nauta said: “I was surprised that I finished this high as I didn’t focus on the Allround. I am not that surprised about the long distances, as I knew I was getting better all season.”
Sáblikova said: “I was surprised today that I managed to climb up from 11th to third position. My 1500 and 5,000 were ok.”
