2012 European Speed Skating Championships
[2] In the absence of defending champion Ivan Skobrev, who did not participate due to an injury,[3] Dutchman Sven Kramer took the men's European title.[4] In the women's competition previous year's gold medalist Martina Sáblíková retained her title, achieving her third European success in row and fourth overall.As a result, the main building was restored to its 19th-century look, the ice surface was expanded by 15 percent and a 210 kilometres (130 mi) embedded cooling system was laid down as well.The first fourteen skaters earned a spot for their countries for the 2012 World Allround Championships, which means that the Netherlands got four, Russia, Germany Norway and Poland three and the Czech Republic one place.Based on the final result, the Netherlands earned four places for the World event, Norway and Poland got two, and Belgium, France, Germany, Latvia and Russia got one each.