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| Event type

Team Pursuit (8 laps), Men

Date26 – 27 February 2010
StatusOlympic
LocationRichmond Olympic Oval, Richmond
Participants29 from 8 countries
FormatSingle-elimination event.
Olympic Record 3:43.64 / Matteo AnesiEnrico FabrisIppolito Sanfratello ITA / 15 February 2006
StarterYves BélangerCAN
RefereeHannu KoivuFIN

Since the introduction of the team pursuit in international competition, the Dutch had won all four World Championships. They had only failed to win the 2006 Olympics, when Sven Kramer fell during the semi-finals against the eventual champion, Italy. Following his dramatic loss in the 10,000 m, Kramer was poised to win this race. While he had hoped to have the same team mates as in 2006, Erben Wennemars and Carl Verheijen hadn’t qualified. But with 1,500 m champion Mark Tuitert, sprinter Simon Kuipers and young talent Jan Blokhuijsen, the Dutch still were the team to beat. Other medal contenders were the United States, which had tied for victory in the season’s first World Cup, although as in 2006, 1,000 m champion Shani Davis had elected to focus solely on individual events. Norway had also won a World Cup race, while the Canadians had set up special training program for the event.

It came as no surprise that these four teams then made the semi-finals, although Norway had a lot of difficulty beating the Koreans. The Canadians set the fastest time, and improved on that in the semi-finals, beating the Norwegians. In the other heat, the Americans upset the Dutch, who trailed the inexperienced Americans (save for former Olympic champion Chad Hedrick) for the entire race.

In the North American final, the Canadians took off at a world record pace, quickly leaving the Americans behind. But the hosts tired quickly, and the US slowly crept back. But, to the joy of the crowd, Canada held a gap of two tenths at the line. In the consolation final, the Dutch and the Norwegians both showed they were both capable of more than they had shown in the semi-finals, recording the fastest times. The Dutch even recorded an Olympic record, but it only gave them a bronze medal.

PosCompetitorsNOC
1CanadaCANGold
Mathieu GirouxLucas MakowskyDenny MorrisonFrançois-Olivier Roberge (DNS)
2United StatesUSASilver
Chad HedrickBrian HansenJonathan KuckTrevor Marsicano
3NetherlandsNEDBronze
Sven KramerSimon KuipersMark TuitertJan Blokhuijsen
4NorwayNOR
Håvard BøkkoMikael Flygind LarsenFredrik van der HorstHenrik Christiansen
5Republic of KoreaKOR
Ha Hong-SeonLee Jong-ULee Seung-HunMo Tae-Beom (DNS)
6ItalyITA
Ermanno IoriattiEnrico FabrisMatteo AnesiLuca Stefani
7SwedenSWE
Joel ErikssonDaniel FribergJohan Röjler
8JapanJPN
Hiroki HirakoTeruhiro SugimoriShigeyuki DejimaShingo Doi

Quarter-Finals

Date26 February 2010 — 12:30
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to semi-finals.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #126 FebCanadaCAN3:42.38 – 3:46.35ItalyITAQOR
Match #226 FebNorwayNOR3:43.66 – 3:43.69Republic of KoreaKORQ
Match #326 FebUnited StatesUSA3:44.25 – 3:48.15JapanJPNQ
Match #426 FebNetherlandsNED3:44.25 – 3:46.40SwedenSWEQ

Semi-Finals

Date26 February 2010 — 14:07
FormatWinner of each heat advanced to final A.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #126 FebCanadaCAN3:42.22 – 3:43.44NorwayNORQOR
Match #226 FebUnited StatesUSA3:42.71 – 3:43.11NetherlandsNEDQ

Final Round

Date27 February 2010 — 12:51
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Final D27 Feb 12:51SwedenSWE3:46.18 – 3:49.11JapanJPN
Final C27 Feb 12:57Republic of KoreaKOR3:48.60 – 3:54.39ItalyITA
Final B27 Feb 13:49NetherlandsNED3:39.95 – 3:40.50NorwayNOROR
Final A27 Feb 13:55CanadaCAN3:41.37 – 3:41.58United StatesUSA