Beijing (AP) – Speed skater Claudia Pechstein has reached the final of the mass start race at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Three days before her 50th birthday, the record-breaking Olympian qualified for the finals thanks to a courageous race in seventh place in her semifinals. With this, Pechstein is running for a medal at the end of the speed skating competitions in the National Speed Skating Oval.
The Berliner had previously described the mass start competition over 16 laps with point sprints as “a lottery race”. “Some say a surprise is always possible in the mass start. That’s true, but I’m still a realist and say that I can’t get an Olympic medal anymore,” she explained.
Since her Olympic debut in 1992 in Albertville, Claudia Pechstein has won five gold and two silver medals in her career. At the start of their eighth Winter Games, Pechstein had finished 20th and last place over 3000 meters. The 49-year-old left open whether she would continue her career after Beijing. “I’ve been running from Olympia to Olympia since 2002. Most recently from year to year. Speed skating is my life. Sport is my life,” she emphasized.
Berlin’s Michelle Uhrig then missed the final. She did collect two points in an intermediate sprint, but then fell and finished eleventh in the final standings, missing out on a place among the top eight runners.