After spending yesterday racing through qualifying rounds in all individual distances, Europe’s best short track speed skaters took the ice today in Sochi for the Ladies 1500 m and 500 m finals. Elise Christie (GBR) concluded the day leading her respective European Championship classification.
Elise Christie (GBR) wins both the Ladies 1500 m and 500 m events
Elise Christie of Great Britain was in dominant form today, and started off this year’s ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships the same way she did last last year: by winning both the Ladies 1500 m and 500 m events. In the Ladies 1500 m event, Christie had to contend with four other skaters to claim the win. She did take advantage of a fall by Ekaterina Konstantinova (RUS) to earn gold. Lara van Ruijven (NED) finished in second while Veronique Pierron of France finished third. The others to claim points in this race were Suzanna Schulting (NED) and Konstantinova who finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Elise Christie earned her second win of the day by taking the lead in the Ladies 1500 m final on the last lap. She passed Jorien ter Mors (NED) who had lead the majority of the race at that point. Ter Mors finished in second place, while her teammate Suzanne Schulting finished third. Anna Seidel (GER) was fourth and Evgeniya Zakharova (RUS) was fifth, both earning valuable points towards the championship classification.
Elise Christie ended the day with 68 points, followed by Lara van Ruijven with 23 points. Suzanne Schulting and Jorien ter Mors are both tied in third place overall with 21 points. On the
Racing resumes tomorrow with the Ladies 1000 m, 3000 m Super Final and the Relay finals. The Netherlands, Russia and Hungary have qualified both their Ladies Relay teams for the finals. Joining the Ladies’ final is Italy, and Great Britain.