Suzanne Schulting and Liu Shaoang offered great performances again on the third day of the European champonships to win the 2020 edition of the competition held in Hungary.
By Carl Savard
Photos by Martin Holtom
Shulting wins her second title in a row
The Dutch star just picked up where she left things yesterday starting this third day of competiton with a win on 1000m. This third victory in a row was enough to confirm her title of 2020 European champion even before racing the 3000m superfinal. Her teammate Lara van Ruijven joined her on the 1000m podium winning silver while seven-time European champion Arianna Fontana won the bronze. Fontana went on to win the 3000m superfinal ending the competition in second place overall. While Schulting didn’t need to win the 3000m, she did try to move forward in the pack with a few laps left to the race but was penalised for a hazardous action. Hanne Desmet was also penalised while Anna Seidel got herself a yellow card for a dangerous action at the end of the race. Ekaterina Efremenkova finished second of the 3000m while Martina Valcepina’s third place on the distance allowed her to finish in third place overall in the final ranking.
In the relay, the Dutch team composed of Suzanne Schulting, Yara van Kerkhof, Lara van Ruijven and Rianne de Vries won the title in the event finishing ahead of the Italians and the Russians. The Hungarian team was penalised.
The Liu brothers decide on the outcome of the competition
With both Liu Shaolin Sandor and Liu Shaoang in action on 1000m, the crowd was loud during the final that was also raced by Semen Elistratov, Itzhak de Laat, Daan Beeuwsma and Yuri Confortola. Liu Shaolin Sandor finished first and was accompanied on the podium by Liu Shaoang and Semen Elistratov after a highly exciting final. With only six points separating the Liu before the 3000m superfinal, fans of the distance were expecting a show, but the brothers had decided otherwise and didn’t play letting the three first distances decide of who would win the 2020 title. Semen Elistratov won the 3000m securing his third spot in the overall ranking. Liu Shaoang is your new European champion while Liu Shaolin Sandor finishes in second place. Last year, Shaolin had won the title with Shaoang finishing second ahead of Elistratov.
Angry crowd after the men’s relay
After offering one of the best show in recent history on the relay, the Hungarian team was penalised on what looked like a pretty common move in this kind of event. A situation that sent the crowd booing the decision and allowed Russia to win gold while the Dutch team got silver and the Italians won the bronze.
For full results click HERE
For our Day 2 recap click HERE
For our Day 1 recap click HERE
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