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'.^[1]

Women's team pursuit at the XX Olympic Winter Games
Pictogram for speed skating
Venue	Oval Lingotto
Dates	15–16 February 2006
Competitors	35 from 8 nations
Winning time	3:01.25
Medalists
Germany Daniela Anschütz-Thoms, Anni Friesinger, Lucille Opitz, Claudia Pechstein, Sabine Völker  Canada Kristina Groves, Clara Hughes, Cindy Klassen, Christine Nesbitt, Shannon Rempel  Russia Yekaterina Abramova, Varvara Barysheva, Galina Likhachova, Yekaterina Lobysheva, Svetlana Vysokova
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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.^[2]

Records

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

World record	GER	2:56.04	Calgary, Canada	13 November 2005	[3]
Olympic record	None (debut sport)	None

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

Date[3]	Event	Team	Time	OR	WR
15 February	Heat 1	Norway Annette Bjelkevik Hedvig Bjelkevik Maren Haugli	3:06.34	OR
15 February	Heat 3	Russia Yekaterina Abramova Galina Likhachova Yekaterina Lobysheva	3:05.93	OR
15 February	Quarterfinals	Canada Kristina Groves Cindy Klassen Christine Nesbitt	3:01.24	OR

Results

Anni Friesinger after winning the gold medal

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[3]	Team
	Germany Daniela Anschütz-Thoms Anni Friesinger Lucille Opitz Claudia Pechstein Sabine Völker
	Canada Kristina Groves Clara Hughes Cindy Klassen Christine Nesbitt Shannon Rempel
	Russia Yekaterina Abramova Varvara Barysheva Galina Likhachova Yekaterina Lobysheva Svetlana Vysokova
4	Japan Eriko Ishino Nami Nemoto Hiromi Otsu Maki Tabata
5	United States Margaret Crowley Maria Lamb Catherine Raney Jennifer Rodriguez Amy Sannes
6	Netherlands Renate Groenewold Moniek Kleinsman Gretha Smit Paulien van Deutekom Ireen Wüst
7	Norway Annette Bjelkevik Hedvig Bjelkevik Maren Haugli
8	China Ji Jia Wang Fei Zhang Xiaolei

Heats

Rank[3]	Team	Time	Notes
1	Russia Yekaterina Abramova Varvara Barysheva Svetlana Vysokova	3:03.19	OR
2	Norway Annette Bjelkevik Hedvig Bjelkevik Maren Haugli	3:06.34	[1]
3	Canada Kristina Groves Clara Hughes Shannon Rempel	3:06.45
4	Netherlands Renate Groenewold Moniek Kleinsman Gretha Smit	3:06.67
5	Germany Daniela Anschütz-Thoms Lucille Opitz Sabine Völker	3:07.07
6	United States Margaret Crowley Maria Lamb Amy Sannes	3:07.83
7	Japan Nami Nemoto Hiromi Otsu Maki Tabata	3:08.34
8	China Ji Jia Wang Fei Zhang Xiaolei	3:18.24

^ 1:  The team from Norway briefly held the Olympic record time. The Norwegians set the record with the fastest time of the first heat, before Russia posted the fastest time in the final heat

Knockout round

Quarterfinals

Seed[3] Team Time Notes 1  Russia Yekaterina Abramova Galina Likhachova Yekaterina Lobysheva 3:05.93 Q 8  China Ji Jia Wang Fei Zhang Xiaolei 3:08.29 Seed[3] Team Time Notes 4  Netherlands Renate Groenewold Paulien van Deutekom Ireen Wüst 3:03.65 5  Germany Daniela Anschütz-Thoms Anni Friesinger Claudia Pechstein 3:01.52 Q

Seed[3] Team Time Notes 2  Norway Annette Bjelkevik Hedvig Bjelkevik Maren Haugli Overtaken 7  Japan Eriko Ishino Hiromi Otsu Maki Tabata Overtook Q Seed[3] Team Time Notes 3  Canada Kristina Groves Cindy Klassen Christine Nesbitt 3:01.24 Q OR 6  United States Maria Lamb Catherine Raney Jennifer Rodriguez 3:04.59

Semifinals

Seed[3] Team Time Notes 1  Russia Varvara Barysheva Galina Likhachova Svetlana Vysokova 3:07.42 5  Germany Daniela Anschütz-Thoms Anni Friesinger Claudia Pechstein 3:02.72 Q

Seed[3] Team Time Notes 3  Canada Kristina Groves Clara Hughes Cindy Klassen 3:02.13 Q 7  Japan Eriko Ishino Nami Nemoto Maki 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[3]	Team	Time	Notes
3	Canada Kristina Groves Clara Hughes Christine Nesbitt	3:02.91
2	Germany Daniela Anschütz-Thoms Anni Friesinger Claudia Pechstein	3:01.25

Final B (bronze medal)

Seed[3]	Team	Time	Notes
1	Russia Yekaterina Abramova Yekaterina Lobysheva Svetlana Vysokova	Overtook
7	Japan Eriko Ishino Nami Nemoto Maki Tabata	Overtaken

Final C (5th place)

Seed[3]	Team	Time	Notes
4	Netherlands Gretha Smit Paulien van Deutekom Ireen Wüst	3:05.62
6	United States Margaret Crowley Maria Lamb Catherine Raney	3:04.22

Final D (7th place)

Seed[3]	Team	Time	Notes
2	Norway Annette Bjelkevik Hedvig Bjelkevik Maren Haugli	3:06.20
8	China Ji Jia Wang Fei Zhang Xiaolei	3:06.91