Winnipeg pair help Canucks to victory
Source: Canadian Press
HEERENVEEN, Netherlands – The Canadian women's team pursuit grabbed the gold medal at a long-track speed skating World Cup event on Sunday, clinching the overall season title.
Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., took the women's season title in the 1,000-metre with a seventh-place finish.
Canada's men's team pursuit also picked up a medal Sunday, finishing second behind Norway and ahead of the United States.
The women's pursuit team of Ottawa's Kristina Groves and Winnipeg's Brittany Schussler and Cindy Klassen, edged Germany with a time of 3:02.05 seconds.
Schussler says winning the World Cup title takes only a little of the sting out of the team's disappointing finish at the recent Vancouver Games, where they failed to medal.
"It was a bit of revenge today," said Schussler. "But winning the overall World Cup title is not winning the Olympics, it's not filling a void. Obviously our goal was to win at the Olympics, but that clearly did not happen."
Klassen, the veteran Olympian who did not skate in team pursuit in Vancouver, came in at the last minute to fill in for Nesbitt. She says she relied heavily on her teammates to push through.
"I was hurting and Brit had to push me quite a bit during the race," said Klassen. "It ended up being good enough, so I was happy about that."
Japan took bronze.
The Canadian men grabbed silver with a time of 3:44.30, 1.53 seconds behind Norway. Canada is third in the overall rankings with 306 points. Norway is first followed by the Netherlands.
Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., combined with Regina's Lucas Makowsky and Mathieu Giroux of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que., in the event.
Shani Davis edged the Netherlands pair of Stefan Groothuis and Mark Tuitert to complete the season with another win in the 1,000.
The American, who clinched the overall World Cup title in the same race last week in Germany, captured gold in 1:08.89 seconds. The Olympic champion also clinched the overall season crown in the 1,500 metres two days earlier.
Morrison finished fifth in the 1,000m standings.
