Speed skating: Germany wins bronze medal in team pursuit

The German speed skaters won bronze at the European Championships in Kolomna, Russia. In the team pursuit Gabriele Hirschbichler, Roxanne Dufter (both Inzell) and Michelle Uhrig (Berlin) finished third on Sunday. The trio lost in his run European Champion Netherlands, who was 5.69 seconds ahead of the Germans in 2:59.34 minutes. Silver went to Russia (2.54 seconds back).

It is the second medal of the current competition for the German team. On Saturday, top sprinter Nico Ihle (Chemnitz) had also won bronze over the 1000m.

The five-time Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein (Berlin) as well as the long-distance athletes Patrick Beckert (Erfurt) and Moritz Geisreiter (Inzell) had given up a start. For the first time, the titles will not be awarded after a all-around, but on the individual tracks.