#SpeedSkating

Jenning de Boo (NED) cruised to victory in the sprint competition at the ISU European Championships on Saturday. After winning both distances on Friday, he kept Merijn Scheperkamp (NED) at arm’s length on the second day to seal gold. Tim Prins (NED) completed the all-Dutch sprint podium. In the Allround tournament Norwegians Peder Kongshaug and Sander Eitrem took a commanding lead going into the final day on Sunday.

Zurek drops the ball in second 500m 

Jenning de Boo (NED) left no room for doubt when he took on Merijn Scheperkamp (NED) in the second 500m of the men’s sprint tournament on Saturday morning. Although Scheperkamp posted a faster opener (9.69s versus 9.76s), De Boo powered to a strong 34.39s to leave his compatriot 0.19s behind in second place.

Tim Prins (NED) and Marten Liiv (EST) finished joint third in the second 500m. The two skaters clocked 34.85s and climbed to third and fourth place in the ranking respectively. Overnight third-place Damian Zurek (POL) was not able to keep up his form of the first day, finishing seventh in a disappointing 35.18s in Saturday’s 500m.

Going into the final 1000m, De Boo defended a 1.54s gap over Scheperkamp at the top of the leaderboard. Prins came third, 2.64s behind the leader after defending a 0.27 gap over Liiv in the battle for bronze. 

De Boo dedicates title to granddad

Despite the comfortable cushion he had over the rest of the field, De Boo felt a lot of nerves coming onto the track for the final 1000m against Scheperkamp.

“I’m not a cautious skater, but you have to take into account that there’s a title at stake, you have to stay on your feet and not screw it,” De Boo said.

Completing the distance in one minute and 8.33s, De Boo was over a second slower than he had been on the first day, but it was more than enough to secure the title.

“Maybe, in that last corner, when I saw Gerard [coach Gerard van Velde] with the thumbs up, I held back a little.”

Overnight leader Jenning de Boo (NED) closed out his European Sprint Championship victory with another 500m win and silver in the 1000m. © ISU

The 20-year-old Dutchman dedicated the title to his late grandfather, who passed away a week ago. 

“He was 89 and it was a peaceful death,” De Boo explained. 

“We were quite close and shared the same interests. I spend an hour and a half with him last Friday. He was always interested in my skating, sending me e-mails to encourage me, because he didn’t know WhatsApp.

“This weekend, I did not want to skate with [his passing away] in mind, because it can give you a boost, but it can also take you down. Now that it’s over, I can openly dedicate the title to him.”

Dutch trio De Boo (center), Scheperkamp (left) and Prins (right) emulated their female teammates by occupying all three spots on the sprint podium. © ISU

De Boo may skip the victory celebrations in Thialf on Sunday to attend a remembrance reunion for his granddad, who will be buried on Monday. 

“Tonight, I’ve got time to celebrate the title, but tomorrow, to be honest, I’d rather be there with my family, than here parading with the flowers,” he said.

Prins wins final 1000m

In the final 1000m, Prins managed to keep De Boo from winning all four distances. The 21-year-old skater from Joure, a village near Heerenveen, stopped the clock at 1:08.04 to keep his teammate 0.29s adrift.

Tim Prins (NED) denied De Boo a sprint clean sweep with victory in the 1000m on Saturday to secure third place on the overall Sprint podium. © ISU

Damian Zirek made amends for his disappointing 500m with 1000m bronze in 1:08.38, but it was not enough to dislodge Prins from the overall podium.

Scheperkamp finished fourth in the final 1000m, clocking 1:08.50. He strung a second, third, second and fourth place together, to end up with overall silver.

“Satisfied,” was his brief summary of the weekend's events. “I made some tiny mistakes here and there, but I’ve pulled out everything I had. You have to skate four good races and that’s what I’ve done.”

Merijn Scheperkamp (NED) took silver after a consistent showing in all four races and feels he's gradually closing the gap on teammate De Boo. © ISU

Scheperkamp felt that he’s gradually closing the gap with De Boo as the season progresses. 

“I think I’m getting closer. This [tournament] gives me hope, no not hope because that sounds as if I’m hopeless, which I’m not. It gives me motivation.”

Norway on the road to history in Allround tournament

With Peder Kongshaug (NOR) and Sander Eitrem (NOR) taking a commanding lead in the first two distances, Norway occupies the top two spots halfway through the men’s Allround tournament. If one of them wins the title, he would be the first European champion from Norway since Johann Olav Koss (NOR) in 1991.

Kongshaug started with a time of 35.94s to finish second in the 500m behind Kim Min-Seok (HUN), who clocked a personal best of 35.63s. The Korean-born Hungarian was not able to follow up his 500m explosion in the 5000m, however, and dropped to fifth place with a time of six minutes and 32.62s to come 13th in the longest distance of Day 1.

Peder Kongshaug leads a Norwegian one-two in the Allround competition after setting out his stall with a fast 500m and a personal best in the 5000m. © ISU

Kongshaug followed up his fast 500m with a personal best of 6:13.05 in the 5000m to climb up to the top of the leaderboard after the first day. 

“I’d say this is a dream scenario,” he said. “My plan is to stay on top of the leaderboard until the 10,000m and then see how it goes.

“It would be great if I got to skate for the title against Sander [Eitrem] in the final 10,000m.

“I think he will have the mental advantage, but at the same time, everyone is expecting him to go faster, so they don't really expect anything from me.”

Eitrem started modestly, coming sixth at 36.79s in the 500m, but the Norwegian long-distance specialist put down the hammer in the 5000m to win in 6:06.20.

Long-distance ace Sander Eitrem (NOR) sits in second after two events, setting a blistering pace in the 5000m to finish almost three seconds ahead of the field. © ISU

Eitrem beat Dutchman Beau Snellink, who came second in 6:08.91, climbing up to third place in the rankings after finishing 14th in the 500m. 

The Norwegian skated the first half of the race at track record pace, but couldn’t keep it up to the finish line.

“[Starting so fast] was definitely not my plan,” Eitrem said. “But the crowd was amazing and then it’s easy to start fast. 

“When I saw my lap times I thought ‘bull***t, this might be a suicide mission. With five or six laps to go I got really tired, but I managed to hang in.”

Snellink commented: “[In the past] I always stayed on the safe side and now I wanted to try to see what’s in store if I begin fast. I started with courage, but so did Eitrem. I hoped to be able to reel him in in the final three laps, but I couldn’t. But I’m satisfied. I skated two good races and a personal best in the 5000m.

“Of course I had hoped that the gap with the top two was smaller, but I hope to be able to close in a little tomorrow. These guys [Kongshaug and Eitrem] also have to skate four good races, so there’s still a lot at stake."

Beau Snellink (NED), left, lies third after a second place finish in the 5000m, while Chris Huizinga (NED), right, found consolation on the 5000m podium after 500m disqualification. © ISU

For Chris Huizinga (NED) the tournament was over before it had even begun. As runner-up at the Dutch national championships three weeks ago, the 27-year-old was one of the main contenders for the title, but he got disqualified after two false starts in the 500m.

The Dutchman found redemption when he finished the 5000m third in 6:09.48, but it was not much of a consolation.

“I tried not to think about it before racing the 5000m, but now that I’ve done that race, it’s quite a big disappointment indeed,” he said. 

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. 

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