U.S. men head into the gold medal Team Pursuit round
Ladies move on to semifinals
February 26, 2010—Richmond, B.C.
U.S. men are guaranteed an Olympic medal in the Team Pursuit as they get ready for tomorrow’s gold medal round with Canada. Brian Hansen (Glenview, IL), Chad Hedrick (Spring, TX), Jonathan Kuck (Champaign, IL) and Trevor Marsicano (Ballston Spa, NY) threw down two fantastic races at the Richmond Olympic Oval, winning their quarterfinal and semifinal events.
First paired with Japan, the U.S. Men (Hedrick, Kuck and Marsicano) skated a fast 3:44.25 to move onto the next round with the Netherlands. During the semifinal event, Team USA (Hansen, Hedrick and Kuck) took the lead but the world champion Dutch team, led by Olympic medalist Sven Kramer, started gaining ground—but it wasn’t enough. The U.S. upset the Netherlands’ team with a time of 3:42.71, fast enough to advance to the gold medal round.
“I’m definitely a little stunned,” Hansen said. “My first thought was “Oh my God, we beat the Dutch.’ My second thought was ‘Oh my God, we won a medal.’”
This medal will give Hedrick five Olympic medals which ties him with Eric Heiden for the most medals won by a long track speedskater. Hedrick gave credit to the junior racers of the team, Hansen and Kuck. He says he’s ready to pass the torch to a younger generation and feels the future of the sport in the U.S. is in good hands.
“These juniors have big hearts,” Hedrick said. “Jonathan Kuck, at one point in the race, was actually pushing me.”
Not to be outdone, the U.S. ladies team of Jen Rodriguez (Miami, FL), Jilleanne Rookard (Woodhaven, MI) and Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr. scored a huge upset in their quarterfinal event against the world champion Canadian team consisting of Kristina Groves, Christine Nesbitt and Brittany Schussler.
In a nail-biting race, the lead passed back and forth between the teams until the final lap when the U.S. ladies crossed the line in first place with 3:02.19—just barely ahead of Canada’s time of 3:02.24.
“We went into the race knowing what we had to get done,” Swider-Peltz said. “Right from the start we had that perfect start.”
“I was just floored,” Rookard said. “It was shocking. I had no idea where we were in the race. I heard a lot of shouting from the Canadians so I thought they were way ahead.”
Team Pursuit events conclude tomorrow at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The U.S. ladies team will face Germany in the semifinals beginning at 12:30 pm (PST). The U.S. men will race for gold against Canada in the A final beginning at 1:55 pm (PST).