The Korean team pursuit men have raised their game significantly. To their own surprise, they started the World Cup season with a gold medal in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, on Friday.
“We did not expect this at all,” a victorious Kim Min Seok (KOR) said. Norway came second and New Zealand took third place.
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Korea defeated Canada in the fifth pairing, clocking 3:40.20. New Zealand had already set 3:42.22 and, with the Netherlands and Norway entering the rink for the final showdown, Korea and New Zealand still topped the list.
The Netherlands and Norway took first and second place team pursuit in last year’s overall World Cup respectively, but the home team were not able to live up to the expectations of their Heerenveen crowd.
The Dutch fell apart in the first lap and were not able to recover. Norway got close to the Korean time, but they had to settle for silver once more in 3:41.48.
Full results and classifications.