#SpeedSkating

Jenning de Boo (NED) took a big lead over the rest of the field on the first day of the sprint tournament at the ISU European Championships in Heerenveen on Friday. The Dutch national sprint champion won both the 500m and the 1000m ahead of compatriot Merijn Scheperkamp, who took second place in the 500m and third in the 1000m. Damian Zurek (POL) squeezed into third place in the overall standings ahead of another Dutchman, Tim Prins.

De Boo struggles to 500m win 

Jenning de Boo (NED) had been a little nervous before the start on the same rink as he put himself in the favorite’s seat for the European Championships by dominating the Dutch nationals three weeks ago.

Skating against compatriot Merijn Scheperkamp (NED), De Boo posted a fast 9.66s opener. But instead of making perfect use of the opportunity to chase from the outer lane on the backstretch, De Boo struggled to stay on his feet.

Jenning de Boo (NED) returned to the site of his Dutch Championships triumph to dominate the 500m and the 1000m and establish a big lead in the Sprint competition. © ISU

“It was my fastest opener ever, so I’m happy with that, but I had a couple of miss-strokes, so I felt that I could have been a little faster,” De Boo commented. 

He eventually finished in 34.47s, edging out Scheperkamp by 0.13s.

Damian Zurek (POL) stopped the clock at 34.66s to take third place in the 500m.

Zurek keeps Prins at bay after 1000m

In the 1000m, De Boo faced Tim Prins (NED), who had finished in a disappointing ninth place (35.03s) in the 500m. Prins redeemed himself with a strong 1000m in 1 minute and 7.89s, but De Boo was in a different league, finishing 0.60s ahead of his teammate.

Scheperkamp had to settle for third place in 1:08.19. De Boo now has a massive 0.58s gap over Scheperkamp ahead of the second 500m on Sunday, but the leader insists that the tournament is not over yet.

Scheperkamp, however, has already thrown in the towel. 

“If I were him, I would say the same thing [that it isn’t over yet], but if he just does his thing tomorrow, he’ll be very difficult to beat,” he admitted.

Merijn Scheperkamp (NED) is De Boo's closest challenger but with more than half a second to make up in the 500m, admits it's a tall order. © ISU

Scheperkamp did see room for improvement after his 1000m. 

“I was on a good one, but in the last corner, I made a few mistakes, which cost me a lot of time. People often think it’s just a few hundredths but if you make a little mistake, it can cost you so much speed."

Zurek (POL) finished fifth in the 1000m, stopping the clock at 1:08.32 to keep Prins at bay in the ranking and block an all-Dutch podium.

With three home skaters on top of the ranking in the women’s tournament, and De Boo and Scheperkamp in first and second in the men’s competition, the Polish sprinter is the only non-Dutch skater on medal course in Heerenveen after day one of the European Championships.

Damian Zurek (POL) is the only non-Dutch male or female skater in a medal position after the first day of the European Championships. © ISU

“I’m happy with my first day,” said Zurek. “It was a good 500m. I made a few mistakes but that’s sprint. My second lap in the 1000m was a little bit hard, but that’s because I gave everything in the first 600m.

“Tomorrow, I don’t think about the standings, we’ll just see.”

Format and schedule

The Sprint Championships are held on Friday and Saturday with a 500m and a 1000m for both genders on each day. The Allround Championships are scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. 

The men will skate the 500m and the 5000m on the first day, followed by the 1500m and the 10,000m on the second. The women face the 500m and the 3000m on Saturday, followed by the 1500m and 5000m on Sunday. 

In both the Sprint and the Allround tournaments the final ranking is based on the so-called 'samalog' score over four distances. The 'samalog' system converts times into points, with the 500m as the starting point. For a 500m race, the number of seconds counts as the number of points. For the 1000m the number of seconds is divided by two to calculate the number of points; for the 1500m it’s divided by three, for the 3000m by six, for the 5000m by 10 and for the 10,000m by 20.

For all information about the ISU European Speed Skating Championships, please visit the webpage here. 

Where to watch