02/17/26 08:23:00
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02/17 08:22 CST Canada vs. Netherlands, and US vs. Italy in the speedskating
team pursuit Olympic finals
Canada vs. Netherlands, and US vs. Italy in the speedskating team pursuit
Olympic finals
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP National Writer
MILAN (AP) --- The U.S. trio of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran
easily reached the men's team pursuit final in speedskating at the Milan
Cortina Olympics on Tuesday by defeating China in the semifinals, while the
women's title was going to go to either 2022 gold medalist Canada or
Netherlands.
The U.S. women were to take on Japan for the bronze later Tuesday.
The American men, who set the world record in the event in November and took
home a bronze from the 2022 Beijing Games, were set to face Italy for the gold
on Tuesday. That's a rematch of a quarterfinal won by the Italians on Sunday.
The teams with the four fastest quarterfinal times moved on to the semifinals.
The two semifinal head-to-head winners reached the final.
The United States trio built up a big lead against China's men and eased up
down the stretch, finishing in 3 minutes, 44.29 seconds, enough to win by
nearly 8 seconds.
Italy's Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti beat Netherlands
in the first men's semifinal, clocking 3:38.88, more than 1 1/2 seconds faster
than the Dutch. Italy's only men's medal in team pursuit was the gold at the
2006 Turin Games.
China will race Netherlands for the men's bronze.
Two-time defending champion Norway was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
In the women's semifinals, Canada's group of 3,000-meter individual bronze
medalist Valerie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann --- the same
athletes who won this event four years ago --- finished in 2:55.92. That was
4.22 seconds faster than the U.S. trio of Brittany Bowe, Mia Manganello and
Giorgia Birkeland.
Bowe and Manganello were part of the American squad that got a bronze in
women's team pursuit at the 2018 Olympics.
The Dutch team of Joy Beune, Marijke Groenewoud and Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong
barely got past Japan in the semifinals, clocking 2:55.84 to win by 0.11
seconds.
In team pursuit, which was added to the Olympics in 2006, three skaters from
each country participate together, and two teams race against the clock in each
heat, starting at opposite sides of the track.
The women do six laps for a total of 2,400 meters; the men race eight laps
covering 3,200 meters.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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