Collalbo day 1: de Jong and Verbij take the lead

The long track speed skating European championships started today in Collalbo, Italy.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Schaats Foto’s

This year, the European allround championships and the European sprint championships are held at the same time. The overall winners of these rankings will respectively won the European allround champion and European sprint champion titles.

Allround championships ladies - 500m & 3000m

The day started with the ladies’ 500m for the allround championships. Twenty-three-year-old Dutch skater Antoinette de Jong completed the distance in 39.194 to win it. Russian Elizaveta Kazelina raced it in 39.264 to take the second place while Italian Francesca Lollobrigida took the third place in front of her fans with a personal best time of 39.563.

The allround ladies’ championships continued with the 3000m. Antoinette de Jong won her second distance of the day racing her 3000m in 4:08.075. She’ll start day two leading the allround classification. Martina Sablikova and Francesca Lollobrigida respectively finished second and third.

Allround championships top 5 after two distances

1. Antoinette de Jong (80.535)

2. Francesca Lollobrigida (81.440)

3. Ireen Wüst (82.155)

4. Martina Sablikova (82.320)

5. Natalia Voronina (82.643)

Full ranking HERE

Sprint championships men - 500m (1) & 1000m (1)

The 2017 World sprint champion Kai Verbij started his 2019 European championships the right way with the win on 500m (1) with a time of 35.232. Twenty-two-year-old Norwegian Henrik Fagerli Rukke and Dutch Kjeld Nuis completed the top 3 on the distance.

Kjeld Nuis first won the 1000m but was disqualified for accidentally kicking two blocks in the corner while skating. Kai Verbij finally took the first position with his time of 1:08:87. Russian Victor Lobas and Norwegian Havard Lorentzen completed the podium. With his two wins of the day, Verbij takes a serious option on the European sprint champion title but there is still a 500m and a 1000m to race tomorrow.

Sprint championships top 5 after two distances

1. Kai Verbij (69.715)

2. Havard Lorentzen (70.520)

3. Henrik Fagerli Rukke (70.645)

4. Artyom Kuznetsov (70.995)
5. Victor Lobas (71.110)

Full ranking HERE

Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter, follow our Facebook page, our Instagram account and our Twitter account for daily news and results about speed skating.