European Sprint Speed Skating Championship

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Did you know that you can only bet on the European Sprint Speed Skating Championships since 2017? Sprinting is always spectacular, so it’s a nice addition to the ISU calendar. Regardless, it remains strange that it took them so long to do so.

In recent years fantastic sprinters that compete world-wide get to spread their wings on a new series of tournaments. At the European Sprint Speed Skating Championships, they “only” have to deal with countries like The Netherlands, Russia, Germany, and Norway. We take a closer look at the setup, history and statistics of this tournament. Of course we look at all the possibilities for betting on the European Sprint Speed Skating.

Format – European Sprint Speed Skating Championship

Ever since the 1980s, tournaments like the World All-round and World Sprint Championships have been the same in terms of format. The average fastest skater over four distances eventually wins the tournament. In the distant past, you could win if you won three of the four distances. Nowadays you can’t afford a fall, especially at a sprint tournament. The format of the European Sprint is just as simple: the fastest over two times 500 meters and two times 1000 meters is the champion.

History – European Sprint Speed Skating Championship

This tournament has been around since 2017, but is only held every two years. Therefore, there have been three editions of the European Sprint Championships so far. Let’s take a closer look at these editions in both the men’s and women’s events.

Men 2017

The nice thing is that the European Sprint Championship is held at the same time as the European All-round Championship. So in addition to all the sprinters, fans could also enjoy heroes like Sven Kramer and Ireen Wüst who took the 2017 all-round title in Thialf. The Netherlands started the sprint tournament with Kai Verbij, Kjeld Nuis and Ronald Mulder. The latter cleverly won the first 500 meters ahead of Ruslan Murashov, Nico Ihle and Kai Verbij.

The first 1000 meters was a prey to specialist Kjeld Nuis, who as expected had conceded much in the 500 meters. Kai Verbij did himself a big favor by finishing second, Nico Ihle was fourth. The second 500 meters also went to Ronald Mulder with another second place for Kai Verbij right behind. Verbij closed the tournament as the winner by finishing third in the final 1000 meters. Kjeld Nuis won his second distance gold there and was second behind Verbij, German Nico Ihle was third.

Men 2019

The 2019 tournament also became a prey for Kai Verbij. This time he gave his victory extra shine by winning no fewer than three distances. Only on the last 1000 meters did he have to let Thomas Krol win. By the way, Krol finished 17th due to a fall in the first 1000 meters. Kjeld Nuis was disqualified in the first 1000 meters because he had crossed the line. Nuis did have the fastest time. As a result, Norwegians Håvard Lorentzen and Henrik Rukke were next to Verbij on the final podium.

Men 2021

At the 2021 tournament, Kai Verbij could not make it a hat trick, due to a disqualification in the first 500 meters (he did win the second). It was Thomas Krol who took the title with great supremacy in Thialf in Heerenveen. He won the 1000 meters twice with such a difference (half a second and a full second respectively), that he could afford to have inferior 500 meters. Fellow countryman Hein Otterspeer took silver by finishing third, third, fifth and fourth. German Joel Dufter completed the podium.

Women 2017

The win in the 500 meters went twice to Russian Olga Fatkoelina, who, however, gave up too much time in the 1000 meters. Jorien ter Mors, on the other hand, was a specialist on the kilometer and won both those distances. Ter Mors was 0.09 seconds short of the winner. Czech Karolina Erbanova was the strongest on average by finishing second on all four distances, becoming champion ahead of Ter Mors and Fatkoelina.

Women 2019

The Champion this year was Austrian Vanessa Herzog who was the only one to dip under 38 seconds (twice) in the 500 meters, even four tenths. That difference kept her behind Daria Katshanova, who won both 1000 meters. Olga Fatkoelina finished third.

Women 2021

In 2021, Jorien ter Mors was back at the European Sprint Speed Skating Championships. Another Russian was very dangerous this time, as Angelina Golikova won the 500 meters twice. Jutta Leerdam stayed on Golikova’s trail, however, and won the final 1000 meters with a second and a half advantage over the Russian. As a result, she made enough difference to become champion. Femke Kok was on the podium at all four distances (two silver, two bronze) and therefore finished third, ahead of number four Jorien ter Mors.

Statistics – European Sprint Speed Skating Championships

Among the men, the Netherlands is clearly the strongest at the European Sprint Speed Skating Championships. Kai Verbij is, of course, the record holder for final victories, with two out of three. Thomas Krol is thus the other winner. Verbij is also strongest at the individual distances with four gold, four silver and one bronze. Still very handsome: nine medals on a total of 12 distances. Thomas Krol won three distances, Kjeld Nuis and Ronald Mulder two. Russian Viktor Mushtakov was the only non-Dutch athlete ever to win a distance in the men’s event.

In the women’s event, there are final wins for the Netherlands (Jutta Leerdam), Austria (Vanessa Herzog) and the Czech Republic (Karolina Erbanova). Still, the Netherlands is on top by also having once silver and once bronze in the final standings. Russia has four medals: two silver and two bronze. The best individually is Jorien ter Mors with three golds. Vanessa Herzog and the Russian trio of Olga Fatkoelina, Daria Katchanova and Angelina Golikova won gold twice. Jutta Leerdam is last with a gold distance medal in addition to her final victory.

Betting Markets – European Sprint Speed Skating Championship

When betting on skating, there are often a number of odds (quotations) to choose from. We explain some of the ones you can choose from.

Betting on European Championship Sprint Speed Skating – outright winner

So the Netherlands has many good sprinters and won four of the six titles at the European Sprint Speed Skating Championships. Which Dutch man, for example, will be the fastest next time: Kai Verbij, Thomas Krol, or perhaps Kjeld Nuis? And the question is whether Jutta Leerdam can continue her strong performance of recent years?

Betting on European Championship Sprint Speed Skating – mutual battle

In many individual sports nowadays you can also bet on a mutual battle, or “versus”. You bet on which of two athletes performs best compared to the other, regardless of the final result. For example, you might want to bet on the battle between Kai Verbij and Thomas Krol.

Betting on European Championship Sprint Speed Skating – live betting on speed skating

Apart from the various betting markets, you can often bet live at these types of tournaments and other sports. This allows you to make a targeted estimate based on the tournament and bet accordingly.

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