SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
In Olympic news today, the U.S. men are taking home a silver medal in the speedskating team pursuit. This is where two teams of three skaters start on opposite sides of the track and try to chase each other down. NPR Olympics correspondent Pien Huang joins us now from Milan. Hey, there.
PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: So what happened on the ice?
HUANG: OK. So both the U.S. men's and women's teams got past the semifinals to the medal events. And in the men's race, it came down to the U.S. versus Italy. Both of these teams started off looking really good, but over eight laps, or 3,200 meters, the U.S. team started to fall just a little behind. The Italian team finished first. They broke formation to pump their arms over their heads in victory as they crossed the finish line. And the U.S. team came in five seconds later to nab the silver. Now, after the race, Ethan Cepuran, one of the U.S. skaters, said that he was tired.
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ETHAN CEPURAN: I mean, I'm struggling to keep my eyes open at the moment, so if I'm a little hazy eye, that's OK. You know, we've been going over the race a little bit, and one thing's for certain is that we're still proud of the effort that we gave.
HUANG: And this team of three has been skating together for seven years. They call themselves the Pain Train. They won the bronze medal in Beijing. And this was their last race together. They'd had their hearts set on gold, so they were disappointed with the outcome, but they said they did skate as best as they could today. And they were also heartbroken for the U.S. women's team who lost their bronze medal race with Japan to miss the medal stand.
DETROW: This is one of those sports that I will admit I was watching today...
HUANG: (Laughter).
DETROW: ...And I kind of get how it works, but I'm also a little confused. Remind us how exactly this works.
HUANG: OK. You and me both, but I've been looking into this, Scott. And it does look kind of funny at first 'cause you've got three people on a team, all of them skating in single-file, super closely, their hands on each other's butts, their motions in sync. And what they're trying to do is work all together to get across the finish line in the fastest time.
The way they do it now is actually a relatively new technique. It's been developed over the past few years. Previously, the three skaters used to switch places during the race. And now they have one leader the whole time, and they have those behind them pushing ahead. So this is actually borrowed from a NASCAR technique called bump drafting, and it's something that the U.S. has been experimenting with, making it more aerodynamic. And it's something that they've also really revolutionized. Now everyone's doing it.
DETROW: So let's talk about the women team because nothing seems worse than coming in fourth place at the Olympics, right?
HUANG: Yeah. And this is just the latest in a streak of near misses on the women's side. So it's been hard for them to break through the dominance of the Dutch skaters and also the top skaters from Japan. Earlier in the Games, they failed to medal in the 1,000-meter, and then in the 500-meter, skater Erin Jackson just missed the podium in her signature event by five-hundredths of a second.
DETROW: Ooh.
HUANG: Yeah. It's been rough. There are a few more chances, you know, including one for Brittany Bowe, who is a speedskating legend. She's here at her fourth and last Olympics, and she's got one more event, the 1,500 meters coming up on Friday.
DETROW: Pien, I hate to say it, but we're almost at the end of the Games, huh?
HUANG: Yeah, we are. And the last figure skating competition of the game starts today. It's the women's individual event, and it ends with a medal on Thursday. Team USA is actually really strong in this event this year, so they could actually have a good shot of getting a medal for the first time in 20 years.
DETROW: What's coming up tomorrow?
HUANG: So tomorrow is a big day for Alpine skiing. It's Mikaela Shiffrin's last chance at an Olympic medal here. She is a skiing superstar, the winningest skier ever by far, but she's been struggling this Olympics. She's missed two shots at a medal so far. Tomorrow is her best event, the slalom, so we'll see what happens there.
And of course, later this week, more speedskating. Jordan Stolz, the fastest speedskater in the U.S. and maybe the world, is halfway through his quest for four gold medals at these games. His next event is on Thursday in the 1,500 meters then.
DETROW: NPR's Pien Huang, covering the Pain Train and other Olympic...
HUANG: (Laughter).
DETROW: ...Comings and goings. Thanks so much.
HUANG: You're welcome.
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