2007 European Speed Skating Championships

The 2007 European Speed Skating Championships were held on the outdoor artificial ice track Arena Ritten in Collalbo, Italy. The Championships were three-day allround events, with the skaters completing four distances before the final championship standings are determined based on the samalog system.

European Speed Skating Championships
Arena Ritten/Ritten Kunsteisbahn (Collalbo)
VenueArena Ritten (Collalbo)
Dates18 and 19 March 2006
Competitors31 men
27 women
Medalist men
1st place, gold medalist(s)Sven Kramer NED
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Enrico Fabris ITA
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Carl Verheijen NED
Medalist women
1st place, gold medalist(s)Martina Sáblíková CZE
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Ireen Wüst NED
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Renate Groenewold NED

Live broadcasts from the Championships were shown on Nederland 1,[1] NRK[2] and Rai Tre/Rai Sport Sat,[3] with highlights on Das Erste.

The two champions were both below 21 years of age; Sven Kramer won his first European gold medal, two years after winning silver in Thialf, while Czech Martina Sáblíková won the women's championship to become the first Czech to medal at a European championship, and also the youngest European women's champion. Kramer is the youngest European Champion since 1992.

Rules

All skaters were allowed to skate the first three distances; 12 skaters took part on the fourth distance. These were qualified by taking the standings on the longest of the first three distances, as well as the samalog standings after three distances, and comparing these lists as follows:

  1. Skaters among the top 12 on both lists were qualified.
  2. To make up a total of 12, skaters were then added in order of their best rank on either list. Samalog standings take precedence over longest-distance standings in the event of a tie.

Final standings

Men

The top six skaters from the 2006 Championships were all present.[4]

PlaceAthleteCountry500 m5000 m1500 m10000 mpoints
Sven Kramer  NED36.76 ( 5)6:15.65 ( 1)1:44.86 ( 2)13:10.44 ( 1)148.800
Enrico Fabris  ITA36.38 ( 1)6:20.28 ( 3)1:44.72 ( 1)13:21.51 ( 3)149.389
Carl Verheijen  NED37.53 (12)6:19.67 ( 2)1:47.34 ( 9)13:15.37 ( 2)151.045
4Håvard Bøkko  NOR36.99 ( 6)6:24.41 ( 4)1:47.10 ( 7)13:27.38 ( 4)151.500
5Ivan Skobrev  RUS36.39 ( 2)6:39.28 (13)1:46.68 ( 4)13:45.01 ( 9)153.128
6Eskil Ervik  NOR37.96 (16)6:24.85 ( 5)1:47.56 (10)13:36.62 ( 8)153.129
7Tobias Schneider  GER37.48 (11)6:35.72 (10)1:47.03 ( 6)13:34.14 ( 5)153.435
8Mark Tuitert  NED36.60 ( 4)6:36.79 (11)1:46.19 ( 3)14:05.27 (11)153.938
9Henrik Christiansen  NOR38.13 (17)6:31.12 ( 7)1:47.87 (12)13:35.72 ( 6)153.984
10Wouter olde Heuvel  NED37.57 (14)6:28.96 ( 6)1:47.60 (11)13:54.40 (10)154.052
11Sverre Haugli  NOR38.20 (18)6:31.55 ( 8)1:48.16 (14)13:35.92 ( 7)154.204
12Matteo Anesi  ITA37.22 ( 8)6:38.62 (12)1:48.85 (15)14:22.38 (12)156.484
13Konrad Niedźwiedzki  POL36.52 ( 3)6:47.81 (19)1:46.96 ( 5)112.954
14Stefan Heythausen  GER37.46 (10)6:42.44 (15)1:47.28 ( 8)113.464
15Jarmo Valtonen  FIN37.14 ( 7)6:48.88 (20)1:47.94 (13)114.008
16Johan Röjler  SWE38.52 (19)6:35.46 ( 9)1:49.68 (17)114.626
17Alexis Contin  FRA37.35 ( 9)6:44.91 (18)1:50.43 (18)114.651
18Joel Eriksson  SWE37.55 (13)6:52.95 (23)1:49.04 (16)115.191
19Vitaly Mikhailov  BLR37.58 (15)6:57.52 (25)1:50.48 (19)116.158
20Artyom Belousov  RUS39.01 (22)6:43.24 (16)1:50.91 (20)116.304
21Sławomir Chmura  POL38.78 (21)6:43.64 (17)1:52.07 (22)116.500
22Alexey Yunin  RUS39.57 (27)6:40.83 (14)1:51.12 (21)116.693
23Christian Pichler  AUT39.30 (26)6:50.43 (21)1:52.07 (22)117.699
24Witold Mazur  POL39.24 (25)6:51.29 (22)1:55.13 (27)118.745
25Maxim Pedos  UKR39.16 (24)7:00.30 (28)1:52.78 (24)118.783
26Oliver Sundberg  DEN39.02 (23)7:01.16 (29)1:54.26 (25)119.222
27Martin Hänggi   SUI38.76 (20)7:06.32 (30)1:54.32 (26)119.498
28Claudiu Grozea  ROM39.89 (29)6:55.74 (24)1:55.76 (28)120.050
29Milan Sáblík  CZE39.62 (28)6:59.98 (27)1:57.06 (29)120.638
Kris Schildermans  BELDSQ6:58.42 (26)1:57.51 (30)
Stefano Donagrandi  ITADNF

A placing among the top 16 qualified the nation for the 2007 World Championships as well as the 2008 European Championships (where each federation is automatically entitled to one skater and any additional skaters are added to this quota, with a cap of four.)

Women

Anni Friesinger, five-time European Champion, withdrew to concentrate on the World Sprint Championships a week later.[5]

At first, the Norwegian Skating Federation selected only Maren Haugli, but included Mari Hemmer and Hedvig Bjelkevik after protests from within the speed skating community.[6][7] Bjelkevik later declined, citing the same reason as Friesinger.

The top seven skaters from the 2006 Championships were all present.

PlaceAthleteCountry500 m1500 m3000 m5000 mpoints
Martina Sáblíková  CZE40.97 ( 9)1:58.66 ( 6)4:03.52 ( 1)6:58.45 ( 1)162.954
Ireen Wüst  NED39.51 ( 1)1:56.78 ( 1)4:07.61 ( 3)7:12.73 ( 6)162.977
Renate Groenewold  NED41.05 (10)1:58.64 ( 5)4:04.24 ( 2)7:08.76 ( 2)164.178
4Daniela Anschütz-Thoms  GER40.63 ( 7)1:58.08 ( 3)4:08.28 ( 4)7:10.49 ( 4)164.419
5Claudia Pechstein  GER40.28 ( 4)1:58.72 ( 7)4:11.15 ( 6)7:10.05 ( 3)164.716
6Marja Vis  NED40.65 ( 8)1:59.56 ( 8)4:09.99 ( 5)7:11.77 ( 5)165.345
7Paulien van Deutekom  NED40.51 ( 5)1:58.34 ( 4)4:12.79 (10)7:23.94 (10)166.481
8Lucille Opitz  GER41.16 (12)1:59.77 (10)4:12.13 ( 8)7:17.81 ( 9)166.885
9Maren Haugli  NOR41.13 (11)2:01.50 (13)4:11.89 ( 7)7:14.26 ( 7)167.037
10Yekaterina Abramova  RUS39.91 ( 2)1:57.98 ( 2)4:18.79 (13)7:34.62 (12)167.829
11Katarzyna Wójcicka  POL40.56 ( 6)1:59.79 (11)4:16.33 (12)7:31.08 (11)168.319
12Andrea Jirků  CZE43.46 (26)2:03.37 (16)4:12.51 ( 9)7:17.44 ( 8)170.412
13Yekaterina Lobysheva  RUS40.15 ( 3)1:59.53 ( 8)4:20.23 (15)123.364
14Katrin Mattscherodt  GER41.68 (15)2:02.05 (14)4:15.13 (11)124.884
15Anna Rokita  AUT41.80 (16)2:03.12 (15)4:19.85 (14)126.148
16Galina Likhachova  RUS41.41 (13)2:00.93 (12)4:28.57 (24)126.481
17Luiza Złotkowska  POL42.47 (19)2:04.15 (17)4:23.85 (18)127.828
18Mari Hemmer  NOR42.24 (17)2:04.04 (18)4:23.74 (17)127.842
19Oana Opincariu  ROM42.89 (24)2:06.20 (22)4:20.46 (19)128.366
20Yekaterina Malysheva  RUS41.42 (14)2:05.61 (19)4:31.96 (25)128.616
21Yuliya Yasenok  BLR42.37 (18)2:06.04 (21)4:26.09 (21)128.731
22Yelena Myagkikh  UKR42.51 (20)2:05.66 (20)4:26.02 (20)128.732
23Marita Johansson  SWE42.54 (21)2:06.28 (23)4:26.85 (23)129.108
24Martina Windhager  AUT43.04 (25)2:07.38 (25)4:26.17 (22)129.861
25Cathrine Grage  DEN44.52 (27)2:06.89 (24)4:24.55 (19)130.907
26Daniela Dumitru  ROM42.77 (23)2:07.66 (24)4:33.57 (26)130.918
27Ágota Tóth  HUN42.76 (22)2:10.98 (27)4:39.80 (27)133.053

The top 14 have qualified their nation for the World Allround Championships. Skaters in the top 16 have given their nation an addition to the basis quota of one skater for the 2008 European Championships, with the quota capped at four skaters per nation.

Friday's events

The competitions began at 13:00 local time.

In the results list, previous European medallists are mentioned, as well as the top ten on each distance.

500 m men

Kramer advanced 13 places from his performance at the 2006 European Championship, and gained 0.8 seconds on Fabris compared to last year's standings. Ervik lost nearly a second, while Bøkko lost half a second and Verheijen gained 0.3 seconds, all compared to the defending champion Fabris. The distance podium is the same as last year, but only Skobrev finished in the same position.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)36.381.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)36.380
2.  Ivan Skobrev (RUS)36.392.  Ivan Skobrev (RUS)36.390
3.  Konrad Niedźwiedzki (POL)36.523.  Konrad Niedźwiedzki (POL)36.520
4.  Mark Tuitert (NED)36.604.  Mark Tuitert (NED)36.600
5.  Sven Kramer (NED)36.765.  Sven Kramer (NED)36.760
6.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)36.996.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)36.990
7.  Jarmo Valtonen (FIN)37.147.  Jarmo Valtonen (FIN)37.140
8.  Matteo Anesi (ITA)37.228.  Matteo Anesi (ITA)37.220
9.  Alexis Contin (FRA)37.359.  Alexis Contin (FRA)37.350
10.  Stefan Heythausen (GER)37.4610.  Stefan Heythausen (GER)37.460
12.  Carl Verheijen (NED)37.5312.  Carl Verheijen (NED)37.530
16.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)37.9616.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)37.960
500 m women

Abramova, Lobysheva, Pechstein and Wójcicka all finished in the same order as in Hamar last year, with Abramova gaining a few hundredths of a second. However, Wüst gains over 1.2 seconds on those three compared to last year's performance, where she finished 0.79 500 m-seconds behind Pechstein in the overall standings. Groenewold finishes 0.77 seconds behind Pechstein, gaining 0.13 on 2006.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Ireen Wüst (NED)39.511.  Ireen Wüst (NED)39.510
2.  Yekaterina Abramova (RUS)39.912.  Yekaterina Abramova (RUS)39.910
3.  Yekaterina Lobysheva (RUS)40.153.  Yekaterina Lobysheva (RUS)40.150
4.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)40.284.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)40.280
5.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)40.515.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)40.510
6.  Katarzyna Wójcicka (POL)40.566.  Katarzyna Wójcicka (POL)40.560
7.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)40.637.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)40.630
8.  Marja Vis (NED)40.658.  Marja Vis (NED)40.650
9.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)40.979.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)40.970
10.  Renate Groenewold (NED)41.0510.  Renate Groenewold (NED)41.050
5000 m men

The previous outdoor world best, by Chad Hedrick from the 2005 World Single Distance Championships, was bettered by 9.96 seconds. Verheijen was the first to beat the record, in the 12th of the 15 pairs, before Kramer lowered it by a further four seconds in the 13th pair, recording nine of twelve laps below 30 seconds.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Sven Kramer (NED)6:15.651.  Sven Kramer (NED)74.325
2.  Carl Verheijen (NED)6:19.672.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)74.408
3.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)6:20.283.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)75.431
4.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)6:24.414.  Carl Verheijen (NED)75.497
5.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)6:24.855.  Mark Tuitert (NED)76.279
6.  Wouter olde Heuvel (NED)6:28.966.  Ivan Skobrev (RUS)76.318
7.  Henrik Christiansen (NOR)6:31.127.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)76.445
8.  Sverre Haugli (NOR)6:31.558.  Wouter olde Heuvel (NED)76.466
9.  Johan Röjler (SWE)6:35.469.  Tobias Schneider (GER)77.052
10.  Tobias Schneider (GER)6:35.7210.  Matteo Anesi (ITA)77.082
11.  Mark Tuitert (NED)6:36.7911.  Henrik Christiansen (NOR)77.242

Saturday's events

The competitions began at 13:00 local time.

1500 m women

Wüst and Abramova finished first and second once more, with exactly the same difference in samalog points, while defending champion Pechstein, whose best World Cup ranking is in the long distance cup, advanced to third place in the allround rankings despite recording a worse placing here than on the 500 metres.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Ireen Wüst (NED)1:56.781.  Ireen Wüst (NED)78.436
2.  Yekaterina Abramova (RUS)1:57.982.  Yekaterina Abramova (RUS)79.236
3.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)1:58.083.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)79.853
4.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)1:58.344.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)79.956
5.  Renate Groenewold (NED)1:58.645.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)79.990
6.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)1:58.666.  Yekaterina Lobysheva (RUS)79.993
7.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)1:58.727.  Katarzyna Wójcicka (POL)80.490
8.  Yekaterina Lobysheva (RUS)1:59.538.  Marja Vis (NED)80.503
9.  Marja Vis (NED)1:59.569.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)80.523
10.  Lucille Opitz (GER)1:59.7710.  Renate Groenewold (NED)80.596
1500 m men

In the final pair, Kramer bettered his personal best by nearly two seconds, thus advancing to third place on the Adelskalender. The outdoor world best mark was lowered by nearly three seconds by Fabris, who pipped Kramer to the line in the final pair, but remains 0.72 seconds behind before the final distance tomorrow, where Kramer was world record holder.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)1:44.721.  Sven Kramer (NED)109.278
2.  Sven Kramer (NED)1:44.862.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)109.314
3.  Mark Tuitert (NED)1:46.193.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)111.131
4.  Ivan Skobrev (RUS)1:46.684.  Carl Verheijen (NED)111.277
5.  Konrad Niedźwiedzki (POL)1:46.965.  Mark Tuitert (NED)111.675
6.  Tobias Schneider (GER)1:47.036.  Ivan Skobrev (RUS)111.878
7.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)1:47.107.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)112.298
8.  Stefan Heythausen (GER)1:47.288.  Wouter olde Heuvel (NED)112.332
9.  Carl Verheijen (NED)1:47.349.  Tobias Schneider (GER)112.728
10.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)1:47.5611.  Henrik Christiansen (NOR)113.198
11.  Wouter olde Heuvel (NED)1:47.6012.  Matteo Anesi (ITA)113.365
12.  Henrik Christiansen (NOR)1:47.8713.  Sverre Haugli (NOR)113.408
3000 m women

By winning the distance, 19-year-old Sáblíková advanced seven places in the overall standings, but still needed to beat Wüst by 14.05 seconds on the final 5,000 metres. On this distance, two-thirds the length, she beat Wüst by 4.09 seconds. Renate Groenewold finished second, also advancing seven places in the allround standings, after skating in the same pair as Sáblíková and leading until two laps remained.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)4:03.521.  Ireen Wüst (NED)119.704
2.  Renate Groenewold (NED)4:04.242.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)121.109
3.  Ireen Wüst (NED)4:07.613.  Renate Groenewold (NED)121.302
4.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)4:08.284.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)121.370
5.  Marja Vis (NED)4:09.995.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)121.711
6.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)4:11.156.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)122.087
7.  Maren Haugli (NOR)4:11.857.  Marja Vis (NED)122.168
8.  Lucille Opitz (GER)4:12.138.  Yekaterina Abramova (RUS)122.367
9.  Andrea Jirků (CZE)4:12.519.  Lucille Opitz (GER)123.104
10.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)4:12.7910.  Katarzyna Wójcicka (POL)123.211
11.  Katrin Mattscherodt (GER)4:15.1312.  Maren Haugli (NOR)123.611
12.  Katarzyna Wójcicka (POL)4:16.3316.  Andrea Jirků (CZE)126.591

Sunday's events

The competitions began at 12:00 local time.

5000 m women

Sáblíková skated in the fifth pair, and after distancing Groenewold by 10 seconds and bettering the world outdoor mark by seven seconds, she set Wüst the task of finishing in 7:12.49 to become European champion. This would be fifth place thus far. Wüst started well, and with five laps to go, she was 0.6 seconds behind Sáblíková, with a cushion of more than 2.5 seconds per lap. But with lap times steadily going upwards, the worst being 37.0 on the penultimate lap, she arrived 0.23 seconds too late to become European champion. Sáblíková thus became the first Czech to win a senior speed skating championship. Neither Pechstein nor Anschütz-Thoms managed to beat Groenewold on the distance, giving Groenewold the bronze medal. Thus, in Friesinger's absence, Germany failed to finish on the podium for the first time since 1974.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)6:58.751.  Martina Sáblíková (CZE)162.954
2.  Renate Groenewold (NED)7:08.762.  Ireen Wüst (NED)162.977
3.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)7:10.053.  Renate Groenewold (NED)164.178
4.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)7:10.494.  Daniela Anschütz-Thoms (GER)164.419
5.  Marja Vis (NED)7:11.775.  Claudia Pechstein (GER)164.716
6.  Ireen Wüst (NED)7:12.736.  Marja Vis (NED)165.345
7.  Maren Haugli (NOR)7:14.267.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)166.481
8.  Andrea Jirků (CZE)7:17.448.  Lucille Opitz (GER)166.885
9.  Lucille Opitz (GER)7:17.819.  Maren Haugli (NOR)167.034
10.  Paulien van Deutekom (NED)7:23.9410.  Yekaterina Abramova (RUS)167.829
11.  Katarzyna Wójcicka (POL)7:31.0811.  Katarzyna Wójcicka (POL)168.319
12.  Yekaterina Abramova (RUS)7:34.6212.  Andrea Jirků (CZE)170.412
10,000 m men

The outdoor world best mark was lowered twice during the race; first by Enrico Fabris in the fifth pair, who bettered the old record by four seconds on his way to leading the distance. Sven Kramer was thus required to skate 13:22.21 to win the championship; he kept well ahead of that, even skating the last two laps in times below 30 seconds, much faster than any other lap of the race. Verheijen also managed to beat Bøkko by 0.455 points (9.10 10,000 m-seconds) to take the bronze medal.

Pos.RaceTimePos.Allround rankingsPoints
1.  Sven Kramer (NED)13:10.441.  Sven Kramer (NED)148.800
2.  Carl Verheijen (NED)13:15.372.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)149.389
3.  Enrico Fabris (ITA)13:21.513.  Carl Verheijen (NED)151.045
4.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)13:27.384.  Håvard Bøkko (NOR)151.500
5.  Tobias Schneider (GER)13:34.145.  Ivan Skobrev (RUS)153.128
6.  Henrik Christiansen (NOR)13:35.726.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)153.129
7.  Sverre Haugli (NOR)13:35.927.  Tobias Schneider (GER)153.435
8.  Eskil Ervik (NOR)13:36.628.  Mark Tuitert (NED)153.928
9.  Ivan Skobrev (RUS)13:45.019.  Henrik Christiansen (NOR)153.984
10.  Wouter olde Heuvel (NED)13:54.4010.  Wouter olde Heuvel (NED)154.052
11.  Mark Tuitert (NED)14:05.2711.  Sverre Haugli (NOR)154.204
12.  Matteo Anesi (ITA)14:22.3812.  Matteo Anesi (ITA)156.484

See also

References and notes