Speed skating

Herzog pulls out of European Championships – Rosner half-time seventh

Vanessa Herzog

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Former European champion Vanessa Herzog has decided not to continue with the sprint quad event on Saturday at the European Championships weekend in Heerenveen!

On Friday evening, the 29-year-old finished sixth in the 500 m and ninth in the 1,000 m, which resulted in eighth place. "Racing like this makes no sense," the 29-year-old was quoted as saying in a press release. Jeaninne Rosner then wrote positive headlines in red-white-red in the all-round quad event, finishing seventh at half-time.

The 18-year-old delivered a very strong European Championship debut. She finished seventh in the 500 m in 39.99 seconds and tenth in the 3,000 m in a personal best time of 4:12.91 minutes. With 82.141 points, Rosner is now a good point ahead of the ninth-placed athlete; the top eight on Sunday after the 1,500 m competition (1.40 pm) will qualify for the final 5,000 m (3.29 pm). Tyrolean Gabriel Odor waited in vain to move up into the field in the men's all-round quad event. His compatriot Ignaz Gschwentner finished 18th in the sprint pentathlon.

Rosner surprised himself
Rosner is therefore likely to deliver the best Austrian result in the Netherlands. "Of course I'm completely satisfied with seventh place. I hadn't expected that," said the national champion. "I was a little surprised at how consistently I was able to complete the laps," said the Innsbruck native about her 3,000 m performance. "Maybe it will be enough (for the top 8, ed.)." The Dutchwomen Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong and Joy Beune are in the lead ahead of the Italian Francesca Lollobrigida.

In the women's sprint, European Championship gold went to Jutta Leerdam in a very close decision, followed by Femke Kok and Suzanne Schulting. With Jenning De Boo, Merijn Scheperkamp and Tim Prins, there was also a Dutch triple victory in the men's sprint. For Herzog, however, after a disappointing season so far, the hope remains for an improvement at the individual track world championships in Hamar, Norway, in mid-March.