The German speed skaters won their first medal at a European individual track championship in six years.
In the team pursuit, the trio Josephine Schlörb (Dresden), Josie Hofmann (Erfurt) and Lea-Sophie Scholz (Berlin) had to admit defeat only to the Dutch women on Sunday (January 7, 2024) after 3:02.33 minutes.
The local heroes ultimately won clearly by seven seconds. Close behind, the Swiss came in third, only 0.07 seconds behind Germany in the end.
At an individual distance European Championship in 2018, Nico Ihle (Chemnitz) and the pursuit team with Roxanne Dufter, Gabriele Hirschbichler (both Inzell) and Michelle Uhrig (Berlin) each won medals as third in the pursuit over 1,000 meters.
Klein is back in the top 10
Moritz Klein again finished in the top 10 in the men’s 1,500 meters. In the victory of the Norwegian Peder Kongshaug (1:44.25 minutes), the Erfurt man came seventh (+1.8 seconds). Klein had already impressed at the start with a strong fifth place in the 1,000 meters. Hendrik Dombek (Munich) and Stefan Emele (Erfurt) were 11th and 15th.
Local champion Jenning De Boo secured the European title in the 500 meters (34.48 seconds) ahead of Marten Liiv (Estonia/+0.30) and Marek Kania (Poland/0.38). Dombek, Klein and Maximilian Strübe (Erfurt) finished distantly in places 14 to 16.
Scholz also impresses over 1,000 meters
In the women’s 1,000 meter competition, Scholz also made it into the top ten in seventh place. Meanwhile, the Dutch celebrated a double success with Olympic silver medalist Jutta Leerdam (1:14.45 minutes) and Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (+0.59 seconds) ahead of Vanessa Herzog (Austria/+1.29). Anna Ostlender (Inzell) came ninth by some distance.
Uhrig is almost 150 meters short of a medal
In the women’s mass start, Michelle Uhrig finished sixth in the 16-strong field with four points. She was on course for a medal until the final lap, but was outsprinted by the field. Hofmann came eleventh. Victory here also went to the hosts, who again took the top two places with Marijke Groenewoud (66 points) and Irene Schouten (40). Francesca Lollobrigida from Italy came third.
In the men’s race, Bart Swings from Belgium finally won the last medal of the title fights. He prevailed in the mass start against the Austrian Gabriel Odor and Allan Dahl Johansson (Norway).
In the previous days in Heerenveen, Strübe, Klein and Dombek (Munich) as well as Ostlender (Inzell), Uhrig and Scholz had each narrowly missed out on a podium place by finishing fourth in the team sprint.