■Nathan Shiga: February 21, 2018

The Takagi sisters, Miho and Nana, with Ayano Sato defeated the Dutch in the final of the Women’s Team Pursuit clocking an Olympic record of 2:53:89, on Wednesday at Gangneung Oval, Pyeongchang.

The race turned out to be a close contest with the Dutch team dominating the ice in the earlier rounds, Japan trailing a few hundredths of a second behind. With two more rounds to go, the Japanese skaters sped to gradually pile up to stretch the lead to a second or two in the last round to go.

Ayaka Kikuchi and the Takagi sisters had ousted Canada in their seminal earlier in the race.

Japan’s women’s team pursuit had 300 hundred days a year of intensive training in creating a highly ingenious style of team skating with the three skaters simultaneously moving in a bundle to minimize air resistance while in action and with the top skater shifting back to the tail in a matter of four seconds.

Prior to Pyeongchang the team had broken the world records twice and was expected to break it for the third time but failed.

Niho Takagi’s gold was her third medal this time, having won silver in 1500 meters and bronze in 1000.

The trio was unanimous in cheering one another for mounting efforts to win the medal and thanked the entire Japanese national team for the support they need to accomplish the feat.

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