Dramatic day for short track men: no finals at 500 meters and 5000 meters relay | Olympics

sport">De Laat, Van ‘t Wout, Sjinkie Knegt and Sven Roes were unable to give the Netherlands a place in the final battle in the second semi-final. The Orange squad was on course for a long time in the Capital Indoor Stadium, but De Laat was surprised in the final round. South Korea finished first, the Russian sports team came in second. The Netherlands was two thousandths of a second short and is dependent on the B-final.

sick

sport">“I messed up like that,” De Laat stammered with tearful eyes at the US† “He came with so much speed, I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t “build” speed anymore. We just drove a good relay, it went really great, but those last two laps are so very difficult. You just have to maintain your speed, but in the bend towards the bell I noticed that I was drifting away. I really screwed up.”

sport">Sign up for the Telesport newsletter and receive the latest Olympic news daily.

sport">The Netherlands has not yet managed to win an Olympic medal with the relay team. Four years ago, the short track runners were disqualified in the semi-finals. In Sochi (2014), the team of national coach Jeroen Otter seemed promising for a medal, until Freek van der Wart went down in the final.

Excited

sport">Routinier Knegt immediately took care of the disappointed De Laat afterwards. “The race went well and according to plan. The last change was also just right. And then it ends in this way and that is very disappointing”, confessed the experienced Frisian. Van ‘t Wout didn’t immediately know what to say. “It just went great. It’s a shame we couldn’t finish it.” Roes also made a shocked impression. “This was the plan. We have often raced at the World Cups. Unfortunately, it didn’t end well this time.”

sport">According to Knegt, it was not an option to decide during the race that another team member would take care of the all-deciding finish. “You have to stick to the agreed plan. Once you’ve started, it’s hard to change tactics. It’s hard to pick someone else to finish halfway through the race. It doesn’t work that way. We didn’t see this wrong outcome coming. We did a fantastic 44.5 lap laps. Only the last corner actually went wrong. This is a hard blow, for sure.”

sport">Perhaps he should have finished it himself? Knegt: “It’s not up to me. The national coach and I do not decide that. But we don’t blame Itzhak. This is a team part, you do it with four people and if you don’t go through, you also lose with four. It could have been so beautiful.”

500 meter

sport">The short track tournament for the men in China has come to an end with the elimination of the relay, except for the B-final. In the 1000 and 1500 meters, the Orange drivers were unable to get a medal and De Laat, Van ‘t Wout and Hoogerwerf were eliminated in the 500 meters series on Friday.

sport">Knegt took a silver medal at the previous Games in Pyeongchang and bronze eight years ago in Sochi. That bronze medal meant the first Olympic short track medal for the Netherlands ever.

sport">All Olympic games can be followed live and can be viewed via Eurosport/discovery+.

–