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ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2007 21 Jan 2007 21:23
The ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2007 concluded in Sheffield (GBR) on Sunday. Evgenia Radanova (BUL) and Nicola Rodigari (ITA) are the 2007 European Champions.
On day one of the men’s competition Italian favorite Nicola Rodigari retained the European 1500m title he won in Poland in 2006. He beat 17-year-old Hungarian Viktor Knoch into second place and Niels Kerstholt in third.
In the ladies event Bulgarian veteran Evgenia Radanova was the favorite to win. But although she had won the 1500m title eight times in a row before this weekend, Radanova did not make the final in 2007, crashing out at the semi-final stage.
This allowed Frenchwoman Stephanie Bouvier to win the gold medal, beating the Italian duo of Katia Zini and 16-year-old debutant Ariana Fontana into second and third respectively.
But Radanova made up for Friday’s disappointment by claiming her fourth European 500m title. In a close race, she disappointed the home crowd by beating British favorite Sarah Lindsay into second place. Russian Ekaterina Belova took the bronze.
Sarah Lindsay said: “It was such a close race and there is no shame in coming second to a champion with a reputation as strong as Radanova. Having the championships held in my home country was a massive boost. The crowd were fantastic and I’m delighted to have won my first ever medal here in Sheffield .”
In the men’s event Thibaut Fauconnet from France pulled off a big surprise by winning his first ever European title. He crossed the line ahead of the experienced Rodigari and Hungarian Gabor Galambos.
The French team topped off a strong first two days by qualifying for the men’s relay final, alongside Hungary , Great Britain and Germany with last year’s champions Italy surprisingly missing out. Italy , Germany , Hungary and the Netherlands made it through to the ladies 3000m relay final.
With Stephanie Bouvier and Evgenia Radanova tied on 34 points each in the ladies overall standings overnight, expectation was high going into Sundays 1000m contest and both ladies made it through to the final.
Bouvier took the lead midway through the race, but brilliant tactics from the Bulgarian duo of Radanova and teammate Marina Georieva-Nikolova saw them take gold and silver with just two laps to go.
A series of disqualifications en route to the final helped the dominant Nicola Rodigari ease to the 1000m title. He took the lead on the second lap and never relinquished it, completing an Italian one, two, three ahead of his countrymen Yuri Confortola and Denis Bellotti.
In the ladies 3000m Radovan consolidated her position. She and Bouvier broke away from the rest of the pack early in the race. Although Bouvier was in the lead for much of the race, the Bulgarian overtook her on the final lap to claim the crown of European champion for yet another year.
The men’s 3000m was one of the closest races of the championship. In a photo finish, Belgium ’s Peter Gysel was declared the surprise victor ahead of the dominant Italian duo of Yuri Contorforla and Nicola Rodigari. But Rodigari had already done enough to be named men’s overall European Champion.
Germany were comfortable victors in the women’s relay. They benefited from a collision between Italy and Hungary mid way through the race, which the Hungarian team was later disqualified for. Italy took silver and the Netherlands completed an unusually strong championships by winning their second bronze medal of the weekend.
The German team rounded off a strong finish to the this year’s competition by winning the men’s 5000m relay whilst Hungary made up for disqualification in the women’s relay by taking silver. But it was the home crowd who had the last cheer as Great Britain claimed bronze after the French team were disqualified for impeding.
