Nao Kodaira Wins 500m Speedskating Gold; Men's Team Pursuit Quarterfinal Results
Japan's Nao Kodaira set an Olympic record on her way to gold in the women's long-track 500 metres speeskating on Sunday.
Kodaira's blistering time of 36.94 seconds bettered the previous mark rival Lee Sang-Hwa, who was second here, set in Sochi four years ago. The Czech Republic's Karolina Erbanova did enough to take bronze.
The quarterfinals of the men's pursuit event also took place on Sunday, with South Korea the quickest qualifiers for Wednesday's semis.
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Here are the results from the Gangneung Oval and a look back at a tremendous conclusion to the shortest of the long-track events.
Women's 500m
1. Nao Kodaira (JPN) - 36.94 (OR)
2. Lee Sang-Hwa (KOR) - 37.33
3. Karolina Erbanova (CZE) - 37.34
Men's Team Pursuit Quarterfinals
1. South Korea - 3:39.29
2. Netherlands - 3:40.03
3. Norway - 3:40.09
4. New Zealand - 3:41.18
For the speedskating results in full, visit the Pyeongchang website.
Kodaira Dominates to Win 500m
The first time of real note in the 500 metres came from Jorien ter Mors, who is in excellent form following her win in the 1,000-metre distance.
The Dutchwoman blew past Kaja Ziomek in Pair 4, laying down a mark of 37.539 that would remain at the top of the standings for the next seven runs.
Eventually, the United States' Brittany Bowe, who already has a fourth and fifth at these Games, usurped Ter Mors with a 37.530.
Comedian Leslie Jones was in attendance to capture some of her compatriot's brilliant run:
With 10 skaters still to come, Bowe's medal chances remained somewhat unlikely. In the 14th of 16 pairs, the quality took a big step up.
Pre-race favourite Kodaira made her way out to the ice and produced the performance so many expected. The time she lodged was not only enough to take her to the top of the standings; it was also a new Olympic record.
In addition, Erbanova, who raced alongside Kodaira, was pulled along to a fine time of her own, taking second spot.
The biggest rival for gold left in the field was always going to be Lee, the current world-record holder. And much to the delight of the home crowd, at the first split she was narrowly ahead of Kodaira's mark.
However, she couldn't maintain the speed needed in the final stages and was eventually a decent margin behind. Lee settled into second ahead of Erbanova; Jonathan Cheng of the Wall Street Journal broke down the South Korean's effort:
In the last pair, Vanessa Herzog pushed hard for a bronze medal but came up just short of Erbanova's time to finish fourth.
It confirmed the victory for Kodaira. As NPR's Elise Hu noted, the top two in the event were clearly emotional after such a big battle:
Earlier on, the semi-finals were set for the men's 500 metres pursuit event, with South Korea delighting the home crowd with an excellent performance.
In their semi they will face New Zealand, while defending champions Netherlands will battle Norway for a spot in the gold-medal showdown.
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