IN PURSUIT OF BEING BEST OF THE WORST
GANGNEUNG — In a pair of battles for North American speedskating supremacy, the United States claimed the one that counts most on Wednesday at the oval.
Their women snuck past Canada by just .44 seconds to win a bronze medal in team pursuit. The Canadian and American men, meanwhile, duked it out for seventh and eighth place. Yawn! (Canada won by about eight seconds.)
In team pursuit, three skaters for each country skate a total of eight laps for men, six laps for women. They spell one another off out front, just as it’s done in a cycling race. And the clock only stops once the third and final member of the squad crosses the finish line.
It has been an Olympic event only since Turin 2006, so it’s fair to consider it the speed skating version of curling mixed doubles, if you will, a bit of gimmickry.
Canadian men and women both won silver in Turin, the men added gold in Vancouver and neither team hit the podium at Sochi.
The Canadian women once again sent team stalwarts Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann to the start, joined by Josie Morrison. They started out slowly and were down by as much as 3.35 seconds.
They made a push, but just ran out of real estate. The American team of Brittany Bowe, Heather Bergsma and Mia Manganello just hung on long enough for the win.
The Canadian men weren’t close in the semifinal with Japan. They lagged behind early and the gap widened to 2.88 seconds at the finish. That sent them into their matchup with the USA.