Suzanne Schulting and Liu Shaolin crowned 2019 European champions

A strong organisation, an action packed weekend, local favorites offering a great show and a crowd raising the roof, here is our recap of Day 3 at the 2019 European championships in short track.

By Carl Savard

Photos by Bert van Lobenstein and Danny Kim

1000m - A lot of action on both sides of the board

In the absence of Suzanne Schulting, penalised in the semifinal, the competition in the main final on 1000m was set to be tighter. Her absence also meant that important points were available for the overall ranking. All eyes were on Elise Christie who had done well the previous day on 1500m but she had to fight Lara van Ruijven, Sofia Prosvirnova, Tifany Huot-Marchand and Ekaterina Efremenkova. After leading for a good portion of the race, Christie was passed by Prosvirnova (1st) and Huot-Marchand (2nd) but was able to get on the podium finishing 3rd. On the men’s side, there was also a noticeable absence as Liu Shaoang had suffered a fall following a penalised action by Vladislav Bykanov in their semifinal. Russia’s Semen Elistratov won the title on the distance finishing ahead of Liu Shaolin Sandor (2nd) and Denis Ayrapetian (3rd).

3000m super final - Schulting was just too strong

Even though the 3000m is the black sheep event in short track, some athletes can show us their game in terms of strategy or just prove how strong they are at the end of a grueling weekend. That’s definitely the case with Suzanne Schulting who played cat and mouse for most of the race before using the last five laps to exhibit her overall strength. Belgium’s Hanne Desmet finished 2nd while Elise Christie crossed the finish line in 3rd place. On the men’s side, Yuri Confortola and Vladislav Bykanov escaped the pack and left the others behind but Confortola was just too strong for Bykanov yesterday. Confortola finished 1st followed by Bykanov and Liu Shaoang.

Team relay

On the men’s 5000m relay event, the world record holder team of Hungary won the title on the distance. They were joined on the podium by the Dutch and the Russians. Team France was penalised in the final. In the women’s 3000m relay final, the Dutch were crowned champion while Hungary and Russia finished respectively 2nd and 3rd.

Suzanne Schulting and Liu Shaolin Sandor crowned overall champions

The crowd gathered for this exciting weekend left with the pride of seeing one of their own being crowned European champion at home as Suzanne Schulting finished first in the overall ranking. Sofia Prosvirnova finished 2nd while 2017 world champion Elise Christie finished in 3rd place. Another crowd favorite finished in the top 10 as Lara van Ruijven closed the competition in 7th place. In the absence of last year’s champion Sjinkie Knegt, we knew that a new champion would be crowned for the men and Hungary’s Liu Shaolin Sandor is your 2019 European champion. He finished ahead of his brother Liu Shaoang. Semen Elistratov finished 3rd overall.  

With the conclusion of the European championships in short track, only four major events are left on the ISU calendar this season. The World junior championships that will be held in Canada in two weeks, two legs of the World cup season to be held in Germany and Italy and finally the World championships that will take place in Bulgaria.

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