Speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Women's team pursuit

The women's team pursuit competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, began on 15 February at Oval Lingotto. The team pursuit consisted of a qualifying round, then a series of elimination races, with the winners of the elimination races progressing to the next round of the 'knockout phase'.

Each race was skated by two teams of three skaters, over a distance of six 400-metre laps (2400 metres total). The three skaters of a team were allowed to change order at any time, but the team's final time was always recorded when the third skater crossed the finishing line. If two teams started simultaneously on opposite sides of the track, and if one team managed to overtake the other before the full distance, the overtaking team was immediately declared the winner.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Team Time OR WR 15 February Heat 1 Annette BjelkevikHedvig BjelkevikMaren Haugli 3:06.34 OR 15 February Heat 3 Yekaterina AbramovaGalina LikhachovaYekaterina Lobysheva 3:05.93 OR 15 February Quarterfinals Kristina GrovesCindy KlassenChristine Nesbitt 3:01.24 OR

Results

Teams had to select three skaters for each round of the team pursuit, but all skaters who participated in at least one round earned a medal, and are mentioned in the overall results below.

Rank Team Daniela Anschütz-ThomsAnni FriesingerLucille OpitzClaudia PechsteinSabine Völker Kristina GrovesClara HughesCindy KlassenChristine NesbittShannon Rempel Yekaterina AbramovaVarvara BaryshevaGalina LikhachovaYekaterina LobyshevaSvetlana Vysokova 4 Eriko IshinoNami NemotoHiromi OtsuMaki Tabata 5 Margaret CrowleyMaria LambCatherine RaneyJennifer RodriguezAmy Sannes 6 Renate GroenewoldMoniek KleinsmanGretha SmitPaulien van DeutekomIreen Wüst 7 Annette BjelkevikHedvig BjelkevikMaren Haugli 8 Ji JiaWang FeiZhang Xiaolei

Heats

Rank Team Time Notes 1 Yekaterina AbramovaVarvara BaryshevaSvetlana Vysokova 3:03.19 2 Annette BjelkevikHedvig BjelkevikMaren Haugli 3:06.34 3 Kristina GrovesClara HughesShannon Rempel 3:06.45 4 Renate GroenewoldMoniek KleinsmanGretha Smit 3:06.67 5 Daniela Anschütz-ThomsLucille OpitzSabine Völker 3:07.07 6 Margaret CrowleyMaria LambAmy Sannes 3:07.83 7 Nami NemotoHiromi OtsuMaki Tabata 3:08.34 8 Ji JiaWang FeiZhang Xiaolei 3:18.24

Knockout round

Quarterfinals

Seed Team Time Notes 1 Yekaterina AbramovaGalina LikhachovaYekaterina Lobysheva 3:05.93 Q 8 Ji JiaWang FeiZhang Xiaolei 3:08.29 Seed Team Time Notes 4 Renate GroenewoldPaulien van DeutekomIreen Wüst 3:03.65 5 Daniela Anschütz-ThomsAnni FriesingerClaudia Pechstein 3:01.52 Q

Seed Team Time Notes 2 Annette BjelkevikHedvig BjelkevikMaren Haugli Overtaken 7 Eriko IshinoHiromi OtsuMaki Tabata Overtook Q Seed Team Time Notes 3 Kristina GrovesCindy KlassenChristine Nesbitt 3:01.24 Q 6 Maria LambCatherine RaneyJennifer Rodriguez 3:04.59

Semifinals

Seed Team Time Notes 1 Varvara BaryshevaGalina LikhachovaSvetlana Vysokova 3:07.42 5 Daniela Anschütz-ThomsAnni FriesingerClaudia Pechstein 3:02.72 Q

Seed Team Time Notes 3 Kristina GrovesClara HughesCindy Klassen 3:02.13 Q 7 Eriko IshinoNami NemotoMaki Tabata 3:05.95

Finals

Four finals determined the final finishing order, with the two semifinal winners meeting for gold, and the two semifinal losers racing for bronze. To determine places five-through-eight, the four quarterfinal losers were ranked by their time in the quarterfinal race, with the fastest loser matched up against the second-fastest for fifth, and the two slowest for seventh.

Final A (gold medal)

Seed Team Time Notes 3 Kristina GrovesClara HughesChristine Nesbitt 3:02.91 2 Daniela Anschütz-ThomsAnni FriesingerClaudia Pechstein 3:01.25

Final B (bronze medal)

Seed Team Time Notes 1 Yekaterina AbramovaYekaterina LobyshevaSvetlana Vysokova Overtook 7 Eriko IshinoNami NemotoMaki Tabata Overtaken

Final C (5th place)

Seed Team Time Notes 4 Gretha SmitPaulien van DeutekomIreen Wüst 3:05.62 6 Margaret CrowleyMaria LambCatherine Raney 3:04.22

Final D (7th place)

Seed Team Time Notes 2 Annette BjelkevikHedvig BjelkevikMaren Haugli 3:06.20 8 Ji JiaWang FeiZhang Xiaolei 3:06.91

References