Collalbo day 2: Verbij and de Jong seal the deal to be crowned European champions

As the second day of the European Championships came to a close in Collalbo, two new champions were crowned – in the men’s sprint and women’s allround.

By Maria Dalton

Photo: Schaats foto’s

Under the new format, both the European sprint titles and European allround titles will be handed out at the same event, surely an exciting change for speed skating fans who can now watch races across all distances at the same event. Leading the way after the first day were Kai Verbij and Antoinette de Jong who sealed the deal today capturing the men’s sprint title and women’s allround title, respectively.

Verbij, de Jong capture titles

Kai Verbij found himself at the top again today, finishing first in the 500m (2) and second in the 1000m (2). His strong performances today allowed him to edge out Havard Lorentzen who finished a cumulative 2.67 seconds back from Verbij. Another Norwegian sprinter rounded off the podium, Henrik Rukke, who had some solid finishes yesterday finished with a total of 141.155 points.

In the women’s allround it was Antoinette de Jong who built upon her strong performances yesterday to bring home the title. De Jong finished with a time of 1:57.03 in the 1500m to finish first in the distance and finished with a time of 7:13.73 in the 5k to finish second. Martina Sablikova finished a cumulative 11.46 seconds behind de Jong to finish second overall, while Francesca Lollobrigida finished third. The legendary Ireen Wust was narrowly edged off the podium and finished fourth.

Herzog and Roest lead the way heading into day 3

Vanessa Herzog leads the way in the women’s sprint category. The Austrian skater has so far had a very successful season and her 37.61s performance in the first 500m today was surely an indication that she is here to win. Daria Kachanova sits in second, a mere 0.16s behind Herzog, after a very strong performance in the 1000m. Olga Fatkulina sits in third, while young Dutch skater Jutta Leerdam sits in fourth heading into the last day of competition in Collalbo.

Patrick Roest, who has been having a stellar season, sits in first position after day one of the men’s allround. The young Dutchman finished 4th in the 500m, and second in the 5k – and he will be looking to continue find further success in the 1500m and 10k tomorrow. His compatriot Sven Kramer will prove to be stiff competition. Kramer finished 6th in the 500m, and first in the 5k – he is currently a mere 0.13s behind Roest, a very small margin considering the gruelling nature of the allround. Sverre Lunde Pedersen currently sits in third with 74.479 points.

You can browse the full results HERE

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