Bowe falls just short of medaling

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Against a field of powerful Dutch and Japanese skaters that included world record-holder Nao Kodaira, a strong start and powerful first lap by Brittany Bowe weren't quite enough Wednesday at the Gangneung Oval.

The gap was narrow enough to be cruel, with Bowe finishing fourth in the women's 1,000 meters — just 0.38 seconds off the bronzemedal winning time.

Had Bowe's legs held out a tick longer, the United States' 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 Olympicrecord 1: 13.56, held up with eight skaters yet to compete, giving the Netherlands a gold-medal sweep of all five speedskating events held thus far at the Winter Olympics.

Bowe, then in second, was left to wait and watch as a succession of competitors attempted to knock her from the podium, including American teammate Heather Bergstra, who was in the final pairing and finished eighth.

In the end, Japanese teammates Kodaira and Miho Takagi improved on Bowe's time to take 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 of how far she had come in a relatively brief time, proud that she had improved on her fifth- place finish in Monday's 1,500, 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."