Van Der Poel, Schouten Claim Gold in 5000 & 3000M Speed Skating
The Mens Olympic 5000M speed skating race came down to the very last lap. Sweden’s Nil Van Der Poel claimed his countrys first long track speed skating medal since 1988. He did it despite trailing silver medalist, Netherlands Patrick Roest, by more than two seconds with three laps left. Van Der Poel made up two and a half seconds in the last 1000 meters to win by 47 hundreths of a second. He set an Olympic record with a time of 6:08.84. Norway’s Hallgeir Engebraaten took the bronze, finishing a little over a second behind.
The Women’s 3000 was won by the Netherlands Irene Schouten. Her time of 3:56.93 set a new Olympic record. Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida, who led in the early stages of the competition, took the silver medal. Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann won the bronze. Germany’s Claudia Pechstein, whose record Schouten broke, competed in her in eighth Olympics at age 49. She is the oldest woman to compete at the Winter Olympics. She finished last in the field of twenty athletes.
China Wins Mixed Relay Gold, Italy’s Arianna Fontana Sets Medal Record
Day one of Olympic Speed Skating saw China edge Italy by the slimmest of margins, 16 hundreths of a second. China’s team of Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Fan Kexin, and Qu Chunyu won their country’s first medal at these games with a time of 2:37.348. Wu clipped Italy’s Pitro Sighel by less than a skate blade at the finish line. Italy’s team of Arianna Fontana, Martina Valcepina, Andrea Cassinelli and Sighel also had a historic achievement to celebrate. Fontana won her ninth Olympic short track medal, surpassing Apollo Ohno of the United States and Russia’s Viktor Ahn who both won eight medals.
The competition was not without contreversy. Russia and the United States were both eliminated in the semifinals. Russia elimination was due to obstruction, while US team elimination was due to blocking. Canada and Hungary’s teams racers clipped skate blades in the final. Canada was penalized and finished fourth. Hungary took the bronze medal after getting up from the spill.
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