ISU European Speed Skating Championships –Kolomna (RUS) January 12-13, 2008
Ladies
World Allround champion Ireen Wüst was a favorite from the start, but last year she lost her advantage on the last distance, and she knew the start of the season had not been so good this year. The field held some other strong ladies, like Martina Sáblíková (CZE), last year’s European champion, with her strength in the long distances as well as Claudia Pechstein and Daniela Anschütz, the experienced German skaters.
On the 500m, Ireen Wüst finished in fourth place with 39,43, and was not satisfied: “I ran the first 300m, I was too hasty, I didn’t skate properly.” Yet, she did not lose much to the winner of the distance, Yekaterina Lobysheva, who lives in Kolomna. Lobysheva won in a championships record time: 39.24, beating Dutch junior debutant Marrit Leenstra by only 0.02 second. Leenstra, who had never been below 40 seconds before, was the first to beat the former championships record of Lobysheva, from two years ago. Paulien van Deutekom, another strong Dutch lady, training partner of Wüst, finished third in 39.40. There were 5 personal bests on this distance.
