By Sakura Murakami
BEIJING (Reuters) – Norway and Japan will be seeking to repeat the golden glory they savoured four years ago when the men’s and women’s team pursuit titles are decided at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday.
They finished with the fastest times in the quarter-finals, with the Japan women’s team breaking their own Olympic record from Pyeongchang 2018 to finish in two minutes 53.61 seconds.
“I am very happy we passed the quarter-finals and broke the Olympic record, which will give us more confidence for our following races,” said Japan’s Miho Takagi, who has already won silver in the 500 metres and 1,500m races in Beijing.
The 27-year-old team captain comes into the race fresh off a surprise second silver medal https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/speed-skating-american-jackson-wins-gold-womens-500m-2022-02-13 on Saturday in the 500 metres – a distance that she is not typically known to be strong in.
Japan will face the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the semi-finals, while the Netherlands will race against Canada.
The fancied Dutch team count gold medallists Irene Schouten and Ireen Wust in their ranks.
Schouten won Beijing titles in the 3,000m and 5,000m, while Ireen Wust became the first Olympian to triumph at five different Winter Games with her sixth gold medal in the 1,500m.
The Netherlands were not on top form on Saturday, though, as they struggled for pace in the quarter-finals and finished in third place overall, almost four seconds behind Japan.
“I’m not so happy with the race. I don’t know (what happened) yet. We have to analyse it and improve ourselves,” Schouten said after the race.
Wust also had harsh words.
“I think it was one of our worst team pursuits. We really have to sit together and look into it as we have to improve, big time. Hopefully we can do better on Tuesday,” she said.
The Norwegian men also have a Beijing medallist in their ranks in Hallgeir Engebraaten, who placed third in the 5,000m.
“It was a good race, we executed our best,” Norway’s Peder Kongshaug said after they finished their quarter-final race in 3:37.47 to place first overall on Sunday.
“We didn’t go too fast and we had some struggles in the end, so I think we can still skate a bit faster. We got a first place (today) and I think that’s a good start for us,” he added.
The top-ranked United States team were hot on their heels, though, finishing in second spot overall, 0.04 seconds behind the Norwegians in 3:37.51 in their quarter-final.
The team comprises the same members who broke the world record two months ago in Salt Lake City, including Joey Mantia and Casey Dawson.
Norway face the Netherlands in the semi-finals, while the U.S. must beat the ROC to reach the gold medal clash.
If the Japan women’s team win gold they will follow in the footsteps of Germany who retained their title in 2010.
If Norway’s men’s team retain the title they will be the first to win two golds in their event.
Team pursuit was added to the Olympics in Turin 2006.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Ken Ferris)
