Grit pushes frustrated American speedskaters to their first medal
GANGNEUNG, South Korea – Shut out in Sochi four years ago and strangers to the Olympic podium in the first 10 races at the Pyeongchang Games, the U.S. long-track speedskating team was growing more desperate for a medal by the day.
Any color would do. Any way they could get it.
The way they got it, Wednesday night at the Gangneung Oval, was a study in never-give-up-ism and the belief that good things happen to those who leave every ounce of themselves on an unforgiving sheet of ice. The whole, in this case, truly was better than the sum of its parts.
Brittany Bowe, Heather Bergsma and Mia Manganello combined to win the bronze medal in women’s team pursuit, finishing the race out of gas and on wobbly legs but with just enough left to hold off Canada, which nearly made up all of a 31⁄2-second gap over the final frenzied
laps.
“My body was completely numb,” said Manganello, who led the final 21⁄2 laps. “I knew I just had to get us to the line. It was a huge team effort. I had the girls pushing me. It definitely wasn’t the prettiest thing. Hands on the legs. Stumbling. We made it real dramatic for the viewers.”
In the head-to-head “B” final race for the bronze, with the teams starting on opposite sides of the 400-meter oval, the Americans crossed the line in 2 minutes 59.27 seconds. Canada crossed in 2:59.72.
Japan beat the Netherlands in the “A” final with an Olympic-record time of 2:53.89 to take the gold.
The fact the U.S. was ranked ninth in the World Cup standings and wouldn’t have even been in the race if not for the Russians’ doping-related sanctions mattered not at all. The Americans earned this medal with great strategy and even greater grit.
“That was heart,” Bowe said. “The last time Heather and I skated the team pursuit was Sochi up until two days ago (in the quarterfinals). The legs haven’t hurt quite that bad in a long time. It’s a different kind of pain than some of the other races I skate. I was just trying to hold myself up and get to the finish line.”
Matched against the Netherlands in the semifinals, the Americans knew they probably weren’t going to win; if they poured all their energy into the semi they’d have nothing left in the race for bronze.
So Bowe sat out and Carlijn Schoutens skated in her place, leading four laps and helping Bergsma and Manganello conserve energy. The U.S. finished nearly 7 seconds back but was in good shape for the race that mattered.
The Americans’ strategy to try to win bronze was to have Bowe and Bergsma get Manganello up to speed over the first few laps. Manganello, the better endurance skater, would then move in front and pull the sprinters to the finish.
With Schoutens running around the infield shouting encouragement, the U.S. built a big lead but started to slow considerably over the final laps. Manganello was running out of steam.
“I heard Mia yell back that she needed some help,” Bowe said.
Bergsma put her hand on Bowe’s lower back and pushed her forward and Bowe put her hand on Manganello’s back and relayed the energy. Exhausted to the point of breaking, they lost form coming out of Turn 4 on the last lap and barely got to the line ahead of Canada.
“Honestly, I didn’t know if we had it when we crossed the line,” Manganello said.
“I looked over and I saw that ‘1’ and I grabbed Brittany’s hand. It was an uproar of emotions, screaming and cheering.”
The medal wiped out two weeks of frustration for U.S. Speedskating. Actually, it wiped out four years of frustration, going back to Sochi. And the women who got it done all had their individual challenges.
Bowe, of Ocala, Fla., missed nearly the entire 2016-’17 season with the aftereffects of a severe concussion. She finished fourth, fifth and fifth in her individual races here.
“I’ve had some close misses but I remained super grateful throughout this whole experience,” she said. “A year ago, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to lace the skates back up.”
Bergsma, of High Point, N.C., has been a consistent podium finisher on the World Cup circuit and in the World Championships but was having a mystifyingly poor Olympic Games.
Manganello, of Crestview, Fla., took six years off after barely missing the 2010 Olympic team and didn’t qualify for the Pyeongchang Games until her final individual race at the trials in Milwaukee last month.
Schoutens, who was born in Trenton, N.J., moved back to the United States from the Netherlands because in all likelihood she wasn’t going to make the Dutch Olympic team.
They’d practiced together for team pursuit just three times.
And somehow, they won a medal. “We’ve obviously been medal-less for quite some time now and to be able to bring this home for not just ourselves but for U.S. Speedskating and the U.S. Olympic Committee means a ton because they’ve put in a ton of time and resources to help us be as successful as possible,” Bowe said.
“So to be able to say thank you and have something tangible to show them and give back feels great.”
The U.S. men skated against Canada in the “D” final of team pursuit, but with Brian Hansen of Glenview, Ill., scheduled to compete in the mass start Saturday there was no incentive for the Americans to win a race that decided seventh and eighth places.
They finished more than 81⁄2 seconds behind the Canadians.
“It’s still pride going out for an Olympic race, but you’re right,” said Hansen, who has trained extensively at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee. “Because I still have another event, I think our approach to this race was a little different just in the fact that I know if I give 100% effort, like a true all-out effort, it takes me a while to recover from that not just physically but mentally.
“So having a race in just over two days from now, I want to make sure I’m hitting the upswing over the next two days rather than recovering after this one.”