Local heroine Anna Seidel has given the German team the only medal at the European Shorttrack Championships in Dresden. The Olympic hope ran in the final over 1000 m to third place. Defending champion Arianna Fontana (Italy) secured the victory ahead of Suzanne Schulting (Netherlands).
“I tried to do everything my coach told me, including working with the elbows. Nobody is nice in the finals anymore,”said Seidel with a smile after the race.
The 3000 m women’s squadron with Seidel, Bianca Walter, Gina Jacobs and Tina Grassow missed the podium and finished fourth,”It was a strong race. We’ve been building up pressure since the beginning. Luck was not on our side this season,”said Tina Grassow, who won gold at the 2007 European Championship in Sheffield.
The quartet had also missed the Olympic qualification at the World Cups:”I’m a little angry, I was running a bit stupid. We changed so closely, I fell. This is very annoying, because Bianca still had a chance to run forward,”said Seidel. Relay Gold went to Russia ahead of Hungary and France.
Christoph Schubert from Dresden finished last in his 1000m quarter-finals and missed the last chance to qualify for the Pyeongchang Winter Games (9th place). until 25 February).