Nico Ihle won the first medal for the German speed skaters at the European Championships in Kolomna, Russia, and the 32-year-old finished third on Saturday in the 1000 m race. The runner-up World Champion over the 500 m was only 0.11 seconds slower than the new European Champion Pawel Kulischnikow (Russia/1:08.84 minutes).
After finishing in fourth place, Ihle delivered the next top performance on Friday, one day later. Behind him came the Inzell-based Joel Dufter (1.67 seconds back) as the second German in the field to rank 13th. On Saturday Gabriele Hirschbichler and Michelle Uhrig took the ninth and third positions respectively over the 1000 m distance. twelve.
Ekaterina Schichowa from Russia won the European Women’s Championship (1:15.34 minutes). The 34-year-old Hirschbichler (2.64 seconds back) had already offered good performances on Friday over the 500 m (8th place) and the 1500 m (5th place). Uhrig (4.41 seconds back) was on the previous day over 1500 m 14. have become.
The five-time Olympic gold medallist Claudia Pechstein, Patrick Beckert and Moritz Geisreiter had given up starting. For the first time, the titles will not be awarded after a all-around, but on the individual tracks.