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| Event type

3,000 metres, Women

Date 9 February 2014 — 15:30
StatusOlympic
LocationAdler-Arena, Coastal Cluster, Adler
Participants28 from 13 countries
Olympic Record 3:57.70 WR / Claudia Pechstein GER / 10 February 2002
StarterTrond RatdalNOR
RefereeDaniel CabelducSWE

The three most recent Olympic champions were all present in Sochi, and all were favored for a medal again. Germany’s Claudia Pechstein, winner in 2002, competed in her 6th Olympics at 41, having missed the Vancouver Games due to a controversial blood passport suspension. In November 2013, she had won the first World Cup of the season. The 2006 champion Ireen Wüst (Netherlands) had won the 2011 and 2013 world titles, and had claimed a win in this distance at the European Championships in January, beating Martina Sáblíková, the defending Olympic champion and 2012 World Champion, who had won two World Cups earlier in the season.

The first skater to approach the track record of 4:02.43 (set by Wüst at the 2013 World Championships) was home favorite, Olga Graf. A better 5,000 m skater, she had never placed better than 5th in a 3,000 m World Cup, but now recorded a strong 4:03.47 on home ice. Her race saw just a 0.76 second difference between her best and worst lap. Obviously happy with her performance, Graf enthusiastically unzipped her suit after the race, nearly causing a “wardrobe malfunction” as she wasn’t wearing a bra. Graf’s strong finish turned out to be too good for Pechstein, who lost nearly 3 seconds to Graf in the last two laps. Sáblíková got off to a faster start than Graf, and, as expected, was able to stick with her schedule. She beat Wüst’s track record, the new mark now being 4:01.95. Wüst herself was up next. Typically racing with a faster start but a slower finish, Wüst recorded the fastest opening laps, but she managed to beat Sáblíková’s laps through the 2,200 m mark, after which she only conceded about a second. This was sufficient for Wüst to reclaim her 2006 title, and earn her third Olympic gold medal in all. Graf held on for bronze, while Pechstein’s 4th place meant Germany was not on the podium on this event for the first time since 1972.

PosPairCompetitorNOCTime
113IIreen WüstNED4:00.34Gold
212IMartina SáblíkováCZE4:01.95Silver
310IOlga GrafRUS4:03.47Bronze
411IClaudia PechsteinGER4:05.26
58IAnnouk van der WeijdenNED4:05.75
611OIda NjåtunNOR4:06.73
714OAntoinette de JongNED4:06.77
86IYuliya SkokovaRUS4:09.36
913OShiho IshizawaJPN4:09.39
1010OJilleanne RookardUSA4:10.02
118OBente KrausGER4:10.17
129IJelena PeetersBEL4:10.87
133OKim Bo-ReumKOR4:12.08
145IMari HemmerNOR4:12.21
151IShoko FujimuraJPN4:12.71
169ONatalia CzerwonkaPOL4:13.26
174OStephanie BeckertGER4:13.55
187ILuiza ZłotkowskaPOL4:14.19
197OBrittany SchusslerCAN4:14.65
201OYekaterina ShikhovaRUS4:14.97
2114IMasako HozumiJPN4:15.52
222IAnna RokitaAUT4:16.43
234IFrancesca LollobrigidaITA4:16.52
243IIvanie BlondinCAN4:18.70
255ONo Seon-YeongKOR4:19.02
262OAnna RingsredUSA4:21.51
276OYang Sin-YeongKOR4:23.67
DQ12OKatarzyna Bachleda-CuruśPOL[4:06.73]1