Olympia 2018: Speed skating: Team around Pechstein misses semi-final

Speed skater Claudia Pechstein has to bury her dream of winning the tenth Olympic medal at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang for good.

In the quarter-finals of the team pursuit on Monday, the 45-year-old Berlin-based rider finished in sixth place alongside Gabriele Hirschbichler and Roxanne Dufter (both Inzell) in 3:02.65 minutes and missed the semi-final on Wednesday.

The best time was set by top favourite Netherlands in an Olympic record of 2:55.61 minutes. The Oranje trio won the race ahead of Japan (2:56.09) and Canada (2:59.02). The fourth semi-final ticket was won by the USA (2:59.75). For Pechstein and Co. the race against China on Wednesday is only about fifth place.

On Sunday, head coach Jan van Veen had aggressively announced the ambitions of the trio of the German Speed Skating Association (DESG) – despite the predominantly disappointing performances on the individual courses.

“We can be optimistic. We’re running for the medal,”said the Dutchman confidently:”If they show what they can do, it’s about the third place”.

The five-time Olympic champion Pechstein, who competes in her seventh Winter Games, had previously clearly passed the podium finishes by over 3000 m and 5000 m. She is the winner of the Olympic Games. On Saturday, Pechstein is still planning the start in the first Olympic mass start. Despite a surprising World Cup victory this season, she is only an outsider there.

But that is not the end of your Olympic career. After the 5000 m race on Friday, Pechstein had announced that he would continue to run until the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.