EC-Gdansk: 25th Anniversary European Championships

22 January 2021   -   This years European Championships Shorttrack in Gdansk is the 25th edition. The Championships was officially for the first time held in 1997 in Malmo-Sweden. The first title-holders were Fabio Carta (ITA) and Marinella Canclini (ITA).
   
    Fabio Carta is also the record holder with 7 European titles on his name. In the ladies Championships Evgenia Radanova (BUL) and Arianna Fontana (ITA) are both the record holders with 7 European titles.
   
    But....the European Championships has a much longer history. Before the Championship became an official European Championships it was many years held as an Europa Cup. The real history of the European Championships started in 1982 with the first Europa Cup being held in Leeuwarden (NED).
   
    In this competition 17 ladies and 22 Men from 6 countries were competing. Boukje Keulen (NED) and Tjerk Terpstra (NED) were the first Overall winners. 15 editions of the Europa Cup would follow untill 1996 when the ISU decided to uplift the Europa Cup to a real European Championship. What makes the Europan Championships of Gdansk in facto being the 40st edition for the European title.
   
    The link to the album with all photos can be found on the frontpage of this website under "This weeks competitions".
   
    Piet Broekhuizen