The United States speed skating team won its heat in the team pursuit event, upsetting the powerful Netherlands team to earn a spot in the finals. The United States is guaranteed of at least a silver medal, and will face the Olympic-record-setting Canadian squad.
The U.S. team, Brian Hansen, Chad Hedrick, and Jonathan Kuck, surprised the world by turning in a time of 3:42:71, which would have beat the old Olympic record of 3:43.64.
“It’s just a total team effort here. These guys right here, Jonathon Kuck and Brian Hansen, they really came through,” Hedrick told NBC.
“We had a chance to defeat the monster, with Sven Kramer, today, and we did it and we’re just ecstatic.”
By “the monster,” Hedrick meant the Netherlands team of Mark Tuitert, Sven Kramer, and Jan Blockhuijsen, which was a huge favorite to win the gold medal. Instead they have been relegated to fighting for the bronze against Norway.
The Canadian team of Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky, and Denny Morrison set a new Olympic record with a time of 3:42:22. The old record was 3:43.64, which all four semifinal teams bested at Vancouver.
The U.S. and Canada will face of for the final on Saturday.
Team pursuit involves two three-man teams competing head-to-head through eight laps of the 400-meter track, with time determined by the final skater of each team to cross the finish line. Team Pursuit was first contested at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
U.S. Women Advance to Semifinals
The U.S. women speed skaters will contest the team pursuit semifinal match against Germany, after upsetting Canada by six-tenths of a second.
The women’s team of Jennifer Rodriguez, Jilleanne Rookard, and Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr. will need to shave two-tenths of a second off their time if they hope to win a medal, but for them to defeat the powerful Canadian team is a huge victory in itself.
