Hex goes on: U.S. speedskater misses medal by 0.38 seconds
Against a field of powerful Dutch and Japanese skaters, Brittany Bowe suffered a cruel fate. The U.S. veteran finished fourth in the women’s 1,000-meter speedskating event Wednesday, just 0.38 seconds off the bronze-medal time,
Had Bowe’s legs held out just a tick longer, the U.S.’ eight-year Olympic speedskating medal drought would have ended. That’s what Bowe hoped so fervently after her torrid performance, paired in the 31-woman competition with Joriea ter Mors of the Netherlands.
Ter Mors’ time, an Olympic-record 1:13.56, held up, giving the Netherlands a gold-medal sweep of all five speedskating events held thus far. Japanese teammates Kodaira and Miho Takagi took silver and bronze, respectively.
“Had a great start; had a great first lap,” said Bowe, a former inline skater and college basketball player who is competing in her second Olympics. “Just didn’t have the legs there at the end.”
It left her torn: proud that she had improved on her fifth-place finish in Monday’s 1,500 meters, yet disappointed to have fallen short of a medal again.
“Best finish yet at the Olympics,” said Bowe, 29. “But it doesn’t matter if it’s not top three.”
American Heather Bergstra, who finished eighth in the 1,500 meters, repeated the placement in the 1,000.
“There were fast times before me,” said Bergstra, 28. “Mentally I was prepared for that, so I went out there and went for it.”
The Americans were seeking the country’s first speedskating medal since the 2010 Vancouver Games, when the Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick combined to win three individual medals and the U.S. men took silver in the team pursuit.
No U.S. female speedskater has won an Olympic medal since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, when Christine Witty won the 1,000 and Jennifer Rodriguez took bronze in the 1,000 and the 1,500.
A Kim Jong Un impersonator calling himself only Howard from Australia made an appearance at the Korea-Japan women’s hockey game.
Security came to take him out of the arena as a crowd began to form. Police later took over, surrounding him in a hall outside the seating area and preventing him from re-entering the venue.
The impersonator wore a long black overcoat and glasses and sported the North Korean dictator’s trademark haircut.
“This is how I look,” he said.
The German team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, known as “the Tobys,” won their second straight gold in doubles luge.
They held off Austria’s Peter Penz and Georg Fischler by 0.088 seconds. Heavy favorites Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken of Germany managed only the bronze.
Americans Justin Krewson and Andrew Sherk took eighth in their Olympic debut.