The Netherlands won mixed doubles gold at the European Championship of Champions on Thursday. Nicole Sanders and Jord van Weeren finished 141 pins clear of the field at Rollhouse Bilkent in Ankara.
The day's eight games also count toward the singles standings, which Hannah Masterson and Lukas Jelinek still lead after 16 of 24 qualifying games.
Mixed doubles: Netherlands take gold
Sanders and van Weeren totalled 3,446, a 215.4 average per game. Van Weeren bowled 1,808, while Sanders added 1,638, the best eight-game set of any woman on the day.
The Dutch pair shot over 420 in seven of their eight games.
Estonia's Kaisa-Ly Lee and Kert Isakar took silver with 3,305.
England's Verity Crawley and Raymond Teece won bronze with 3,227, holding off Sweden by 13 pins. Robin Ilhammar (3,214 total) bowled the high game of the day, a 280, but that wasn't enough for Sweden to earn a medal.
The race behind them was even tighter. Ireland (3,189) finished fifth, one pin ahead of Finland (3,188). Ireland also had the best team game of the day, a 476 in game 15.
Final Standings
Top 8 after eight games:
The mixed doubles medals will be presented on Saturday, together with the other medal ceremonies.
Women: Masterson's lead shrinks
Masterson remains on top with 3,255 (203.4), but her lead is down from 173 pins to 64. She bowled 1,471 in the doubles, while Crawley added 1,580 to stay second with 3,191.
Alexandra Giannadaki of Greece is still third with 3,131. Finland closes the top 5 with the defending ECC champ Emma Palermaa in fourth (3,114) and Ani Juntunen in fifth (3,105).
Nicole Sanders made the biggest move, climbing from 17th to seventh. Estonia's Lee rose from 11th to sixth, and Hungary's Luminita Bucin moved from 19th to tenth after a 258, the women's high game of the day.
The cut for Saturday is tight. Malta's Cynthia Frendo Duca holds 12th with 2,966, one pin behind Iceland's Marika Katarina E. Lönnoth. Kristina Sramkova of Slovakia is 13th, six pins short, and host bowler Gülhanım Birinci dropped from fourth to 14th, 21 pins back.
Combined Standings
Top 12 after 16 of 24 qualifying games:
Men: Norway moves up to second
Lukas Jelinek, just like after day 1, still leads with 3,607, averaging 225.4. Today he added 1,796 in the doubles and is 60 pins ahead of the second place.
Norway's Mathias Danielsen Otting bowled the best men's series of the day, 1,824 (228.0), and moved from sixth to second with 3,547. Van Weeren jumped from seventh to third with 3,492, ahead of Ireland's Christopher Sloan (3,476). Teece slipped from second to fifth with 3,443.
Finland's Markus Lahti holds 12th place with 3,245. Isakar moved from 24th to 13th and is 21 pins short. Spain's Jesus Daniel Briceno, 12th after day one, is now 15th, and Latvia's Rihards Kovalenko fell from tenth to 20th.
Combined Standings
Top 12 after 16 of 24 qualifying games:
What's next
Block 2, games 17 to 24, is bowled on Friday and completes qualifying.
The top 12 men and women then move on to Saturday's eight-game round, followed by best-of-three semifinals and finals. Medals for singles and mixed doubles are presented on Saturday.
Results are updated on the ECC 2026 standings page, and the games are streamed on BowlStream.
