Speed skating: Ihle misses the podium

Vice World Champion Nico Ihle narrowly missed a podium place at the European Championships for speed skaters in Kolomna, Russia.

The 32-year-old finished fourth at the short-distance event in 35.03 seconds and showed five weeks before the start of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang (9th place). till 25. February) slightly rising form, but still fell well short of his season best time (34.35).

“The European Championship was the return to competition rhythm, I can be satisfied with fourth place,” said Ihle on ARD television:”In the direction of the Olympics, this was a really good sign.

For one medal Ihle missed 18 hundredths of a second on the Russian Pavel Kulishnikov, who in turn missed the second place of the Finn Mika Poutala by only four thousandths of a second (both 34.85). The victory went to the Olympic third from Sochi, Ronald Mulder from the Netherlands (34.80). Joel Dufter from Inzell finished 13th in 35.71 seconds.

The two German starters over 500 m missed the women’s podium by a considerable margin. Gabriele Hirschbichler finished eighth in a time of 38.97 seconds, Roxanne Dufter (both Inzell) had to settle for eighth place in 40.73 seconds, while Roxanne Dufter (both Inzell) had to settle for 18th place in a time of 40.73 seconds. 1500 m was better for both of them: Hirschbichler finished fifth in 1:58.18 minutes, Dufter in eighth place in 1:59.75.

Vanessa Herzog clinched Austria’s first ever single distance European Championship title in 37.69 seconds on the shorter distance. The Russian local heroine Angelina Golikowa (38.04) won the silver medal, the Czech Karolina Erbanova (38.18) won the bronze medal, while Lotte van Beek from the Netherlands (1:55.52 min) triumphed over 1500 m ahead of the Russian Jekatarina Schischowa (1:56.57 min) and Marrit Leenstra from the Netherlands (1:56.58 min).

The short-distance EC is regarded as a pointer on the way to Pyeongchang. The five-time Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein (Berlin) did not start in Kolomna at an early stage, Patrick Beckert (Erfurt) and Moritz Geisreiter (Inzell) are also not in the Olympic season.

For the first time, the titles will not be awarded after a all-around, but on the individual tracks.