European Speed Skating Championships
Venue	City Park Ice Rink Budapest, Hungary
Dates	6–8 January 2012
Competitors	54 from 18 nations
Medalist men
Sven Kramer  NED Jan Blokhuijsen  NED Håvard Bøkko  NOR
Medalist women
Martina Sáblíková  CZE Claudia Pechstein  GER Ireen Wüst  NED

The 2012 European Speed Skating Championships was the 37th continental speed skating event for women and the 106th for men, that was held at the City Park Ice Rink in Budapest, Hungary, from 6 to 8 January 2012.^[1] The competition was also a qualifying event for the 2012 World Allround Speed Skating Championships as the entry quotas were allocated according to the results of the European Championships.^[2]

In the absence of defending champion Ivan Skobrev, who did not participate due to an injury,^[3] Dutchman Sven Kramer took the men's European title. This was his fifth victory, having won previously four consecutive European Championships between 2007 and 2010. Kramer also ran track records both in the 1500 meters and 5000 metres event, and his overall score of 156.197 is the best ever result at the City Park Ice Rink as well.^[4]

In the women's competition previous year's gold medalist Martina Sáblíková retained her title, achieving her third European success in row and fourth overall. Sáblíková also set a new track record in 3000 metres with a time of 4:16.09.^[5]

Further two records were beaten over the weekend, both in 500 metres. On the first day of the championships, Sáblíková's compatriot Karolína Erbanová set a new best time,^[5] and a day later Konrad Niedźwiedzki of Poland ran a track record on the shortest distance.^[4]

Venue

The competition took place at the City Park Ice Rink, an outdoor artificial skating rink situated in the downtown of Budapest. Prior to the championships, the rink went through a renovation and modernization for a fee of 4.7 billion Hungarian Forint (approximately €16 million), of which 3 billion came from the European Regional Development Fund. As a result, the main building was restored to its 19th-century look, the ice surface was expanded by 15 percent and a 210 kilometres (130 mi) embedded cooling system was laid down as well.^[6] The races were held on a standard track of 400 meters with outer curves of 29 meters and inner curves of 25 meters radii. Both racing lanes were 4 meters wide, with an additional inside training track of the similar width.^[2]

Participating nations

A provisional list of competitors and staff had to be presented until 19 December 2011, while the final deadline of applications for the European Championships was closed on 3 January 2012. Every European member federation of the International Skating Union (ISU), whose racer met the qualification criteria were eligible to delegate one participant to the event, and, according to the rules of the ISU,^[7] the following nations had the right to enter additional competitors in virtue of their results in the previous continental event:^[2]

Eventually 54 competitors from 18 nations registered officially for the championships, not including the substitutes, in the following distribution:^[8]

Although registered for the event, Kaitlyn McGregor from Switzerland and Joel Eriksson from Sweden did not participate at the European Championships.

Events

Women's competition

The women's European Championship were held over three days, with the 500 metres and the 3000 metres event in the first day, followed by the 1500 metres event on the second day. Skaters were awarded points according to their times, and the twelve best placed competitors after the second day were eligible to participate in the 5000 metres closing event on the last day of the championship.

The first fourteen skaters earned a spot for their countries for the 2012 World Allround Championships, which means that the Netherlands got four, Russia, Germany Norway and Poland three and the Czech Republic one place.

The entries for the 2013 European Championships were also determined using the results of the European Championships. Countries with at least three skaters in the first twelve earned four entry positions (Netherlands), countries with at least two skaters in the first sixteen earned three quotas (Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia), and countries with at least one skater in the first twenty earned two places for the next continental championship (Austria, Belgium). All other European ISU members have the right to delegate one skater, subject to the qualifying time limits are met.

500 metres Rank[9] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Karolína Erbanová  Czech Republic 39.87 TR 0.00 39.870 2 Ireen Wüst  Netherlands 40.21 0.34 40.210 3 Yuliya Skokova  Russia 40.40 0.53 40.400 4 Yekaterina Lobysheva  Russia 40.62 0.75 40.620 5 Claudia Pechstein  Germany 40.67 0.80 40.670 6 Annouk van der Weijden  Netherlands 41.13 1.26 41.130 7 Ida Njåtun  Norway 41.20 1.33 41.200 8 Natalia Czerwonka  Poland 41.22 1.35 41.220 9 Linda de Vries  Netherlands 41.33 1.46 41.330 10 Hege Bøkko  Norway 41.48 1.61 41.480 11 Diane Valkenburg  Netherlands 41.56 1.69 41.560 12 Katarzyna Woźniak  Poland 41.59 1.72 41.590 13 Mari Hemmer  Norway 41.73 1.86 41.730 14 Martina Sáblíková  Czech Republic 41.79 1.92 41.790 15 Olga Graf  Russia 42.08 2.21 42.080 16 Isabell Ost  Germany 42.11 2.24 42.110 17 Luiza Złotkowska  Poland 42.22 2.35 42.220 18 Anna Rokita  Austria 42.32 2.45 42.320 19 Bente Kraus  Germany 43.07 3.20 43.070 20 Ágota Tóth  Hungary 43.29 3.42 43.290 21 Nele Armée  Belgium 43.56 3.69 43.560 22 Tatyana Mikhailova  Belarus 43.58 3.71 43.580 23 Sara Bak  Denmark 44.81 4.94 44.810

3000 metres Rank[10] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Martina Sáblíková  Czech Republic 4:16.09 TR 0.00 42.681 2 Natalia Czerwonka  Poland 4:19.41 3.32 43.235 3 Claudia Pechstein  Germany 4:19.71 3.62 43.285 4 Diane Valkenburg  Netherlands 4:21.29 5.20 43.548 5 Ireen Wüst  Netherlands 4:22.59 6.50 43.765 6 Isabell Ost  Germany 4:22.65 6.56 43.775 7 Linda de Vries  Netherlands 4:25.40 9.31 44.233 8 Olga Graf  Russia 4:26.08 9.99 44.346 9 Hege Bøkko  Norway 4:26.39 10.30 44.398 10 Yuliya Skokova  Russia 4:26.78 10.69 44.463 11 Katarzyna Woźniak  Poland 4:28.38 12.29 44.730 12 Annouk van der Weijden  Netherlands 4:28.84 12.75 44.806 13 Bente Kraus  Germany 4:28.85 12.76 44.808 14 Anna Rokita  Austria 4:29.37 13.28 44.895 15 Yekaterina Lobysheva  Russia 4:30.20 14.11 45.033 16 Nele Armée  Belgium 4:31.99 15.90 45.331 17 Ida Njåtun  Norway 4:33.01 16.92 45.501 18 Luiza Złotkowska  Poland 4:35.67 19.58 45.945 19 Mari Hemmer  Norway 4:36.37 20.28 46.061 20 Karolína Erbanová  Czech Republic 4:41.89 25.80 46.981 21 Tatyana Mikhailova  Belarus 4:43.76 27.67 47.293 22 Sara Bak  Denmark 4:45.07 28.98 48.511 23 Ágota Tóth  Hungary 4:50.82 34.73 48.470

1500 metres Rank[11] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Martina Sáblíková  Czech Republic 2:03.64 0.00 41.123 2 Linda de Vries  Netherlands 2:04.70 1.06 41.556 3 Yuliya Skokova  Russia 2:05.18 1.54 41.726 4 Diane Valkenburg  Netherlands 2:05.61 1.97 41.870 5 Yekaterina Lobysheva  Russia 2:06.01 2.37 42.003 6 Ireen Wüst  Netherlands 2:06.36 2.72 42.120 7 Olga Graf  Russia 2:07.93 4.29 42.643 8 Annouk van der Weijden  Netherlands 2:08.15 4.51 42.716 9 Natalia Czerwonka  Poland 2:08.65 5.01 42.883 10 Claudia Pechstein  Germany 2:08.72 5.08 42.906 11 Hege Bøkko  Norway 2:09.03 5.39 43.010 12 Ida Njåtun  Norway 2:09.19 5.55 43.063 13 Katarzyna Woźniak  Poland 2:09.56 5.92 43.186 14 Luiza Złotkowska  Poland 2:10.08 6.44 43.360 15 Nele Armée  Belgium 2:10.81 7.17 43.603 16 Karolína Erbanová  Czech Republic 2:10.91 7.27 43.636 17 Anna Rokita  Austria 2:11.38 7.74 43.793 18 Isabell Ost  Germany 2:11.68 8.04 43.893 19 Mari Hemmer  Norway 2:12.07 8.43 44.023 20 Tatyana Mikhailova  Belarus 2:13.49 9.85 44.496 21 Bente Kraus  Germany 2:14.29 10.65 44.763 22 Ágota Tóth  Hungary 2:15.44 11.80 45.146 23 Sara Bak  Denmark 2:16.56 12.92 45.520

5000 metres Rank[12] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Martina Sáblíková  Czech Republic 7:22.38 0.00 44.238 2 Claudia Pechstein  Germany 7:34.51 12.13 45.451 3 Ireen Wüst  Netherlands 7:43.59 21.21 46.359 4 Linda de Vries  Netherlands 7:45.27 22.89 46.527 5 Diane Valkenburg  Netherlands 7:48.04 25.66 46.804 6 Olga Graf  Russia 7:52.54 30.16 47.254 7 Isabell Ost  Germany 7:55.11 32.73 47.511 8 Natalia Czerwonka  Poland 7:56.18 33.80 47.618 9 Annouk van der Weijden  Netherlands 8:00.32 37.94 48.032 10 Yuliya Skokova  Russia 8:02.16 39.78 48.216 11 Katarzyna Woźniak  Poland 8:08.95 46.57 48.895 12 Hege Bøkko  Norway 8:35.95 73.57 51.595

Points evolution and overall result

Rank[13]	Athlete	Country	500 m	3000 m	1500 m	5000 m	Behind
	Martina Sáblíková	Czech Republic	41.790 (14)	84.471 (4)	125.684 (1)	169.922 (1)	0.00
	Claudia Pechstein	Germany	40.670 (5)	83.955 (1)	126.861 (4)	172.312 (2)	2.39
	Ireen Wüst	Netherlands	40.210 (2)	83.975 (2)	126.095 (1)	172.454 (3)	2.59
4	Linda de Vries	Netherlands	41.330 (9)	85.563 (7)	127.129 (6)	173.656 (4)	3.74
5	Diane Valkenburg	Netherlands	41.560 (11)	85.108 (6)	126.978 (5)	173.782 (5)	3.86
6	Yuliya Skokova	Russia	40.400 (3)	84.863 (5)	126.589 (3)	174.805 (6)	4.89
7	Natalia Czerwonka	Poland	41.220 (8)	84.455 (3)	127.338 (7)	174.956 (7) PB	5.04
8	Olga Graf	Russia	42.080 (15)	86.426 (13)	129.069 (11)	176.323 (8)	6.41
9	Annouk van der Weijden	Netherlands	41.130 (6)	85.936 (11)	128.652 (9)	176.684 (9)	6.77
10	Isabell Ost	Germany	42.110 (16)	85.885 (10)	129.778 (14)	177.289 (10)	7.37
11	Katarzyna Woźniak	Poland	41.590 (12)	86.320 (12)	129.506 (12)	178.401 (11)	8.48
12	Hege Bøkko	Norway	41.480 (10)	85.878 (9)	128.888 (10)	180.483 (12)	10.57
13	Yekaterina Lobysheva	Russia	40.620 (4)	85.653 (8)	127.656 (8)
14	Ida Njåtun	Norway	41.200 (7)	86.701 (14)	129.764 (13)
15	Karolína Erbanová	Czech Republic	39.870 (1)	86.851 (15)	130.487 (15)
16	Anna Rokita	Austria	42.320 (18)	87.215 (16)	131.008 (16)
17	Luiza Złotkowska	Poland	42.220 (17)	88.165 (19)	131.525 (17)
18	Mari Hemmer	Norway	41.730 (13)	87.791 (17)	131.814 (18)
19	Nele Armée	Belgium	43.560 (21)	88.891 (20)	132.494 (19)
20	Bente Kraus	Germany	43.070 (19)	87.878 (18)	132.641 (20)
21	Tatyana Mikhailova	Belarus	43.580 (22)	90.873 (21)	135.369 (21)
22	Ágota Tóth	Hungary	43.290 (20)	91.760 (22)	136.906 (22)
23	Sara Bak	Denmark	44.810 (23)	92.321 (23)	137.841 (23)

Men's competition

The men's event took place on Saturday and Sunday, with the 500 metres and the 5000 metres race at the first day and the 1500 and 10,000 meters final race in the second day. After the first day, the best 24 out of the 29 skaters got the change to participate in the 5000 meters event, while the best 12 competitors after three events took part in the 10,000 meters race.

According to the ISU rules, the fourteen best placed skaters won for their country an entry spots for the 2012 Allround World Championships. Based on the final result, the Netherlands earned four places for the World event, Norway and Poland got two, and Belgium, France, Germany, Latvia and Russia got one each.

The places for the 2013 Allround European Championships were also distributed using the classification of the European Championships. Countries with at least three skaters in the first twelve earned four spots (Netherlands), countries with at least two skaters in the first sixteen earned three (Norway and Poland), and countries with at least one skater in the first twenty earned two starting places (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Russia). All other European ISU members have got one spot, subject to the time limits set are met.

500 metres Rank[14] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Konrad Niedźwiedzki  Poland 36.89 TR 0.00 36.890 2 Zbigniew Bródka  Poland 36.90 0.01 36.900 3 Jan Blokhuijsen  Netherlands 36.93 0.04 36.930 4 Tommi Pulli  Finland 37.14 0.25 37.140 5 Håvard Bøkko  Norway 37.25 0.36 37.250 6 Haralds Silovs  Latvia 37.46 0.57 37.460 7 Jan Szymański  Poland 37.48 0.59 37.480 Benjamin Macé  France 37.48 0.59 37.480 9 Kristian Reistad Fredriksen  Norway 37.51 0.62 37.510 10 Koen Verweij  Netherlands 37.73 0.84 37.730 11 Bram Smallenbroek  Austria 37.75 0.86 37.750 12 Sven Kramer  Netherlands 37.77 0.88 37.770 13 Alexis Contin  France 37.80 0.91 37.800 14 Ted-Jan Bloemen  Netherlands 37.84 0.95 37.840 15 Luca Stefani  Italy 37.89 1.00 37.890 16 Pavel Baynov  Russia 38.00 1.11 38.000 17 Sverre Lunde Pedersen  Norway 38.04 1.15 38.040 18 Simen Spieler Nilsen  Norway 38.17 1.28 38.170 19 Milan Sáblík  Czech Republic 38.24 1.35 38.240 20 Marco Cignini  Italy 38.31 1.42 38.310 21 Vitaly Mikhailov  Belarus 38.34 1.45 38.340 22 Sergey Gryaztsov  Russia 38.35 1.46 38.350 23 Denis Yuskov  Russia 38.46 1.57 38.460 24 Patrick Beckert  Germany 38.56 1.67 38.560 25 Bart Swings  Belgium 38.81 1.92 38.810 26 Moritz Geisreiter  Germany 39.33 2.44 39.330 27 Ferre Spruyt  Belgium 39.46 PB 2.57 39.460 28 Martin Hänggi   Switzerland 40.32 3.43 40.320 29 Marian Ion  Romania DSQ — —

5000 metres Rank[15] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Sven Kramer  Netherlands 6:31.82 TR 0.00 39.182 2 Jan Blokhuijsen  Netherlands 6:36.49 4.67 39.649 3 Alexis Contin  France 6:38.08 6.26 39.808 4 Ted-Jan Bloemen  Netherlands 6:38.27 6.45 39.827 5 Håvard Bøkko  Norway 6:40.60 8.78 40.060 6 Haralds Silovs  Latvia 6:41.39 9.57 40.139 7 Koen Verweij  Netherlands 6:41.42 9.60 40.142 8 Denis Yuskov  Russia 6:41.89 10.07 40.189 9 Bart Swings  Belgium 6:43.33 11.51 40.333 10 Sverre Lunde Pedersen  Norway 6:44.64 12.82 40.464 11 Patrick Beckert  Germany 6:45.22 13.40 40.522 12 Moritz Geisreiter  Germany 6:46.46 14.64 40.646 13 Jan Szymański  Poland 6:47.61 15.79 40.761 14 Luca Stefani  Italy 6:56.05 24.23 41.605 15 Kristian Reistad Fredriksen  Norway 6:57.42 25.60 41.742 16 Marco Cignini  Italy 6:58.67 26.85 41.867 17 Sergey Gryaztsov  Russia 7:00.38 28.56 42.038 18 Bram Smallenbroek  Austria 7:00.69 28.87 42.069 19 Ferre Spruyt  Belgium 7:01.38 29.56 42.138 20 Vitaly Mikhailov  Belarus 7:01.44 29.62 42.144 21 Konrad Niedźwiedzki  Poland 7:02.62 30.80 42.262 22 Benjamin Macé  France 7:03.02 31.20 42.302 23 Zbigniew Bródka  Poland 7:06.06 34.24 42.606 24 Milan Sáblík  Czech Republic 7:07.68 35.86 42.768 25 Simen Spieler Nilsen  Norway 7:08.04 36.22 42.804 26 Martin Hänggi   Switzerland 7:09.80 37.98 42.980 27 Marian Ion  Romania 7:14.52 42.70 43.452 28 Pavel Baynov  Russia 7:16.25 44.43 43.625 29 Tommi Pulli  Finland 7:24.50 52.68 44.450

1500 metres Rank[16] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Sven Kramer  Netherlands 1:53.98 TR 0.00 37.993 2 Sverre Lunde Pedersen  Norway 1:54.87 0.89 38.290 3 Jan Blokhuijsen  Netherlands 1:54.93 0.95 38.310 4 Denis Yuskov  Russia 1:55.13 1.15 38.376 5 Koen Verweij  Netherlands 1:55.42 1.44 38.473 6 Haralds Silovs  Latvia 1:55.48 1.50 38.493 7 Zbigniew Bródka  Poland 1:55.98 2.00 38.660 8 Bart Swings  Belgium 1:56.08 2.10 38.693 9 Håvard Bøkko  Norway 1:56.35 2.37 38.783 10 Jan Szymański  Poland 1:56.55 2.57 38.850 11 Bram Smallenbroek  Austria 1:57.44 3.46 39.146 12 Alexis Contin  France 1:57.58 3.60 39.193 13 Benjamin Macé  France 1:57.80 3.82 39.266 14 Konrad Niedźwiedzki  Poland 1:57.92 3.94 39.306 15 Sergey Gryaztsov  Russia 1:58.73 4.75 39.576 16 Patrick Beckert  Germany 1:59.08 5.10 39.693 17 Kristian Reistad Fredriksen  Norway 1:59.19 5.21 39.730 18 Luca Stefani  Italy 1:59.82 5.84 39.940 19 Marco Cignini  Italy 1:59.97 5.99 39.990 20 Ferre Spruyt  Belgium 2:00.00 6.02 40.000 21 Vitaly Mikhailov  Belarus 2:00.75 6.77 40.520 22 Milan Sáblík  Czech Republic 2:00.95 6.97 40.316 23 Ted-Jan Bloemen  Netherlands 2:01.58 7.60 40.526 24 Moritz Geisreiter  Germany 2:01.64 7.66 40.566

10000 metres Rank[16] Athlete Country Time Behind Points 1 Sven Kramer  Netherlands 13:45.05 0.00 41.252 2 Jan Blokhuijsen  Netherlands 13:52.48 7.43 41.624 3 Håvard Bøkko  Norway 14:02.83 17.78 42.141 4 Alexis Contin  France 14:05.84 20.79 42.292 5 Koen Verweij  Netherlands 14:05.98 20.93 42.299 6 Ted-Jan Bloemen  Netherlands 14:08.83 23.71 42.441 7 Bart Swings  Belgium 14:19.14 34.09 42.957 8 Sverre Lunde Pedersen  Norway 14:21.61 36.56 43.080 9 Haralds Silovs  Latvia 14:23.38 NR 38.33 43.169 10 Denis Yuskov  Russia 14:23.93 38.88 43.196 11 Jan Szymański  Poland 14:41.24 56.19 44.062 12 Zbigniew Bródka  Poland 14:44.55 PB 59.50 44.227

Points evolution and overall result

Rank[17]	Athlete	Country	500 m	5000 m	1500 m	10000 m	Behind
	Sven Kramer	Netherlands	37.770 (12)	76.952 (2)	114.945 (2)	156.197 (1) TR	0.00
	Jan Blokhuijsen	Netherlands	36.930 (3)	76.579 (1)	114.889 (1)	156.513 (2)	0.32
	Håvard Bøkko	Norway	37.250 (5)	77.310 (3)	116.093 (4)	158.234 (3)	2.04
4	Koen Verweij	Netherlands	37.730 (10)	77.872 (7)	116.345 (5)	158.644 (4)	2.45
5	Alexis Contin	France	37.800 (13)	77.608 (5)	116.801 (7)	159.093 (5)	2.95
6	Haralds Silovs	Latvia	37.460 (6)	77.599 (4)	116.092 (3)	159.261 (6) PB	3.07
7	Sverre Lunde Pedersen	Norway	38.040 (17)	78.504 (9)	116.794 (6)	159.874 (7)	3.68
8	Denis Yuskov	Russia	38.460 (23)	78.649 (10)	117.025 (8)	160.221 (8)	4.03
9	Ted-Jan Bloemen	Netherlands	37.840 (14)	77.667 (6)	118.193 (12)	160.634 (9)	4.44
10	Bart Swings	Belgium	38.810 (25)	79.143 (12)	117.836 (10)	160.793 (10) PB	4.60
11	Jan Szymański	Poland	37.480 (7)	78.241 (8)	117.091 (9)	161.153 (11) PB	4.96
12	Zbigniew Bródka	Poland	36.900 (2)	79.506 (16)	118.166 (11)	162.393 (12)	6.20
13	Konrad Niedźwiedzki	Poland	36.890 (1)	79.152 (13)	118.458 (13)
14	Patrick Beckert	Germany	38.560 (24)	79.082 (11)	118.775 (14)
15	Bram Smallenbroek	Austria	37.750 (11)	79.819 (18)	118.965 (15)
16	Kristian Reistad Fredriksen	Norway	37.510 (9)	79.252 (14)	118.982 (16)
17	Benjamin Macé	France	37.480 (7)	79.782 (17)	119.048 (17)
18	Luca Stefani	Italy	37.890 (15)	79.495 (15)	119.435 (18)
19	Sergey Gryaztsov	Russia	38.350 (22)	80.388 (21)	119.964 (19)
20	Marco Cignini	Italy	38.310 (20)	80.177 (20)	120.167 (20)
21	Moritz Geisreiter	Germany	39.330 (26)	79.976 (19)	120.522 (21)
22	Vitaly Mikhailov	Belarus	38.340 (21)	80.484 (22)	120.734 (22)
23	Milan Sáblík	Czech Republic	38.240 (19)	81.008 (24)	121.324 (23)
24	Ferre Spruyt	Belgium	39.460 (27)	81.598 (26)	121.598 (24)
25	Simen Spieler Nilsen	Norway	38.170 (18)	80.974 (23)
26	Tommi Pulli	Finland	37.140 (4)	81.590 (25)
27	Pavel Baynov	Russia	38.000 (16)	81.625 (27)
28	Martin Hänggi	Switzerland	40.320 (28)	83.300 (28)
29	Marian Ion	Romania	920.000 (DSQ)	963.452 (29)

See also

• 2012 World Allround Speed Skating Championships

References

External links

• Official website