Without injured favourite skater Sven Kramer in the race, the Netherlands was not able to bring in gold at the European All Round Speed Skating Championships. The Dutch had to be content with two silver and two bronze medals.

Russian Ivan Skobrev won the all-round European title at the championships in the Italian Collalbo. The Russian completed the long-distance 10-kilometre race in 13 minutes 39.80 seconds, followed by three Dutchmen - Jan Blokhuijsen in second place, Koen Verweij in third place and Wouter Olde Heuvel in fourth. Skobrev's victory was due to his performance in the final part of the race, when he gained great speed and overtook Blokhuijsen just before the finish.

History repeated itself in the women's long-distance five-kilometre race. Czech Martina Sablikova swooped gold for the second year in a row. Dutch skater Ireen Wust won silver - having also lost out to Ms Sablikova in 2010. Sablikova's timing was 7 minutes, 07.78 seconds, while Wust was almost 11 seconds behind.

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