Day 3 Ladies Team Pursuit!

Check that one out...it's a PODIUM!  What a surprise it was for us girls to make it onto the podium this past weekend.  None of us expected it at all.  Nancy Swider Peltz Jr., Mia Mangenello, and myself made up the ladies Team Pursuit Team this past weekend here in Berlin.  Unlike most of the other teams out here we haven't really skated much together this year at all.  Nancy trains in Milwaukee and so it makes it difficult for us to practice on a consistent basis.  This week we practiced twice together just trying to skate well with one another.  Our whole goal this weekend was just to go out skate hard and try to have a good start.  We went into this race with no expectations at all.  We have skated so little together that each time we race this event we use it as a way to learn and improve on for our next time together.

The Team Pursuit is a 6 lap race, skated only on the inner lanes.  Nancy started the race with our opening lap, then Mia pulled a lap, then I went, followed by Nancy pulling a lap and half, and I pulling the last lap and half.  We were really happy when we crossed the line because we put up the lead time.  A surprise to us all.  We had no expectation to be on the podium and with four of the best teams in the world still to go....three of which all had medals from the last Olympics we beat that we would end up 5th.  To our surprise our time kept holding.  First Russia (bronze medalists from 06) fell completely apart.  Then Germany just barely beat us by 1 second (gold medalists from 06).  Next up the Canadians (silver medalists from 06) and the Dutch team (stacked with a full set of TVM girls).  By this point in time we were starting to get off the ice, and head back to the track and field to cool down. To our surprise the Canadians skated slower than us, and the Dutch out did us by 1.1 seconds!  We were all crazy excited.  It was the first time that a US team had placed since 2003 in the team pursuit!  I think it made all three of us realize the Vancouver really isn't that far away.  

If you want to watch the race you can see portions of it on You Tube.  Just search for US Pursuit Women Score Bronze, and it will load up.  (Maybe my link will work, but given my history I doubt it so just search for it.) It's produced by NBC Universal.  The guy commentating is a little off.  He mixes up Nancy and I during the race.  In the clip you'll see that Nancy is just finishing her second pull, and I am finishing the race for the team. 

Berlin Team Pursuit 

Pretty sweet ending to the weekend!