Medal hopes for pursuit team

Speed skaters Peter Michael, Reyon Kay and Shane Dobbin have been picked for the New Zealand team to compete at next month’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

The trio will be the first New Zealanders to compete in the team pursuit and believe they are a serious medal chance.

Michael, 28, will also compete in the mass start, 5000m and 1500m, Kay, 31, in the mass start and 1500m and Dobbin, 38, in the 10,000m.

Dobbin retired following Sochi, where he was the New Zealand team flagbearer, but was convinced to return to the sport by the allure of competing in the team pursuit.

‘‘When Reyon called and asked me to come back to the sport it wasn’t an easy decision for me to make, it took a good couple of months for him to bring me around,’’ he said.

‘‘What we’ve achieved in the short amount of time that we’ve been skating together is great. We want a medal at PyeongChang and we’re heading in the right direction to achieve that goal. You’d struggle to find a group of guys who are more driven than us right now.’’

In the team pursuit they have an impressive record with four World Cup podiums in the past 18 months, and a second placing at the 2017 world championships at the Gangneung Oval (the venue for the Olympic competition in PyeongChang). The team have a ranking of second in the 2017/2018 World Cup.

Kay attributes the trio’s success to their unorthodox training style, led by their coach, Kalon Dobbins – Shane’s brother.

‘‘We do really long sessions on the ice but really slow. Most skaters do 20 laps max and they’ll do that a couple of times for their endurance but we’ll do 150 laps a lot slower,’’ he said.’’