The ISU European Speed Skating Championships are being hosted this year in Heerenveen, Netherlands and the British duo, Cornelius Kersten & Ellia Smeding, have been training throughout the holiday period to prepare.
The action kicks off on Friday the 5th of January with Cornelius skating first in the Men’s 1000m. Saturday and Sunday are also jam packed with Ellia skating the 500m & 1500m on the Saturday and then the 1000m on the Sunday before Cornelius rounds up the weekend in the 500m.
Going into this competition both skaters are ranked highly with Ellia within the world's top 10 for the 1000m.
Ellia commented: “Looking forward to getting back into racing this weekend at the European Championships after a good block of training. It will be great to race in a full Thialf and I am aiming to put down some strong performances.”
The schedule for the weekend is as follows, and you can catch all the action on the ISU YouTube channel.
FRIDAY, 5th JANUARY 2024 18:35 Team Sprint Women 18:51 Team Pursuit Men 19:26 3000m Women 20:30 1000m Men - Cornelius Kersten | SATURDAY, 6th JANUARY 2024 13:30 Team Sprint Men 13:46 500m Women - Ellia Smeding 14:29 5000m Men 16:03 1500m Women - Ellia Smeding | SUNDAY, 7th JANUARY 2024 13:15 Team Pursuit Women 13:37 1500m Men 14:31 1000m Women - Ellia Smeding 15:19 500m Men - Ellia Smeding 16:06 Mass Start Women 16:29 Mass Start Men |
Image courtesy of ISU International Skating Union