Sochi 2014: US Wins First Medal in Speed Skating with Silver in Men's 5000m Short Track Relay

Sochi 2014: US Wins First Medal in Speed Skating with Silver in Men's 5000m Short Track Relay

The US short track skaters won the silver medal in the 5000m team short track relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It is the first US medal in overall speed skating, but they did not medal in the speed skating events.

This was their final chance to win a medal.

J.R. Celski, who has struggled to replace Apolo Ohno as the U.S.’s next big short track star, Chris Creveling, Jordan Malone and Eddy Alvarez finished at 6:42.371. Creveling put the USA ahead of Russia with 15 laps to go, but tired out with seven laps left.

Russia won their first-ever gold in the team relay with Viktor Ahn, Semen Elistratov, Vladimir Grigorev and Ruslan Zakharov at 6:42.100, which is an Olympic record. It is Ahn’s third gold medal of these games and his sixth overall. He won this gold medal right after he won the gold in the men’s 500m.

Ahn is originally from South Korea, but he moved to Russia after disagreements with the South Korean team and coaches.

China came in third ahead of The Netherlands. The Dutch conquered speed skating and the short track. They won 22 medals, swept the podium four teams and set numerous Olympic records.

(Photo via Getty Images)

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