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 Antoinette Rijpma de Jong GettyImages 1244897768

Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (NED) competing on the Women's A Group 1500m during the 2022 Speedskating World Cup in Heerenveen, Netherlands. @Getty Images

This year, the ISU European Speed Skating Championships at the Hamar Vikingskipet  (January 06-08, 2023) in Norway, will be held in an Allround and Sprint format this season. Two years ago, all four titles went to the Netherlands. In Hamar, Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong and Patrick Roest will defend their Allround titles, while Jutta Leerdam hopes to retain her Sprint crown. The Men’s Sprint Champion Thomas Krol did not qualify at the Dutch trials, leaving the title up for grabs in an open field.

Home favorite Wiklund challenges defending champion

In absence of World Allround Champion Irene Schouten, Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong aims at her third consecutive European Allround title, after already having won the Championships in 2019 in Collalbo (ITA) and in 2021 in Heerenveen (NED). The 27-year-old Dutchwoman relies on an impressive 1500m to make the difference in the overall ranking. At the Dutch Championships in December, Rijpma-de Jong blew away Marijke Groenewoud in a 1500m track record, after Groenewoud had won the 3000m on the first day of the Championships. Heading into the 5000m with a ten-second cushion, Rijpma-de Jong brought it home easily.

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Marijke Groenewoud (NED), Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong (NED) and Irene Schouten (NED) competing on the Women's A Group Team Pursuit during the 2022  Speedskating World Cup in Stavanger, Norway. @Getty Images

In Hamar, Groenewoud will be one of Rijpma-de Jong’s rivals again, but Ragne Wiklund (NOR) may even be more dangerous. The versatile Norwegian is stronger than Rijpma-de Jong in the longer distances, but she hasn’t shown real speed in the shorter distances this season yet. Having won the 2021 World 1500m title, she knows how to take on the shorter distances too. However, Wiklund could become the first Norwegian women to seize the European Allround title in history.

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Ragne Wiklund (NOR) races in the Women's 1500m during the 2021 ISU World Cup Speed Skating competition in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. @ISU

Leerdam relies on superb 1000m

The Women’s Sprint Championships will probably be a two-horse race between defending champion Jutta Leerdam and her predecessor Vanessa Herzog (AUT), who took the title in 2019.

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Jutta Leerdam (NED) races in the 1000m Women Division A during the 2022 ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Calgary, Alberta. @ISU

Leerdam dominated this season’s 1000m with four wins in four World Cup races, but Herzog was faster in the 500m on two occasions. The 27-year-old Austrian tried to work on her stamina, skating 1500m races at the World Cup during the first half of the season.

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Vanessa Herzog (AUT) competes in the Women's 500m during the 2022 ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Heerenveen, Netherlands. @ISU

Leerdam faces another challenger in compatriot Femke Kok (NED), who beat her in the first 500m at the Dutch national Championships in December.

Roest and the young Norwegians

Patrick Roest is the best Allround Skater of the Men’s field at the moment, but a new generation of Norwegian youngsters is knocking on the door.

Patrick Roest ISU 1449922724

Patrick Roest (NED) races in the 10000m Men Division A during the 2022 ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Calgary, Alberta. @ISU

Peder Kongshaug and Sander Eitrem may be able to take on the Dutchman in the shorter distances, but they’ll have to work on their stamina in the 5000m and the 10,000m to challenge Roest at an Allround championships. 

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Peder Kongshaug (NOR) competes in the 1000m Men Division B, during the 2022 ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Stavanger, Norway. @ISU

Open field in Men’s Sprint competition

In absence of defending Champion Thomas Krol, the Men’s Sprint tournament has no clear favorite. Two-fold Champion Kai Verbij (NED), who won the title in 2017 and 2019, is back in business after an appendectomy last summer and a groin injury in the first half of the season.

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Kai Verbij (NED) competes in the Men's Sprint 2nd 1000m during the 2022 World Speed Skating Championships in Hamar, Norway. @ISU

However, the Dutchman had to bow his head for Hein Otterspeer and Merijn Scheperkamp (NED) at the Dutch national Championships in December.

The home crowd will cheer for Håvard Lorentzen (NOR). The 2018 Olympic 500m Champion came third at last year’s World Sprint Championships in Hamar, but did not end up on the podium of a World Cup race this year yet.

Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen GettyImages 1244908278

Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) before competing on the Men's A Group 500m during the 2022 Speedskating World Cup in Heerenveen, Netherlands @ Getty Images

Italy’s David Bosa might be up for a surprise in Hamar. The 30-year-old sprinter from Trento took his career first World Cup podium with bronze in Calgary last December, and his combined season’s best times in the 500m and 1000m (34,50s and 1:07.24) are faster than Otterspeer’s (34.59s and 1:07.28).

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David Bosa (ITA)  races in the 1000m Men Division A race during the 2022 ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Calgary, Alberta.  @ISU

Format and schedule

The Sprint Championships are held on Friday and Saturday with a 500m and a 1000m for both genders on each day. The Allround Championships are scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. The men will skate the 500m and the 5000m on the first day, followed by the 1500m and the 10,000m on the second. The women face the 500m and the 3000m on Saturday, followed by the 1500m and 5000m on Sunday.

In both the Sprint and the Allround tournaments the final ranking is based on the so-called samalog score over four distances. The samalog system converts times into points, with the 500m as starting point. For a 500m race, the number of seconds counts as the number of points. For the 1000m the number of seconds is divided by two to calculate the number of points; for the 1500m it’s divided by three, for the 3000m by six, for the 5000m by ten and for the 10,000m by twenty.

For all information about the ISU European Speed Skating Championships, please visit the webpage here.

Where to watch

Viewers will be able to watch the ISU European Speed Skating Championships (local time) via their national broadcaster/channel.

For countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to watch webpage here.