Russia (bbabo.net), - Russian speed skaters Daniil Aldoshkin, Sergei Trofimov and Ruslan Zakharov won silver medals in the team race at the Beijing Games. This is our first Olympic medal in this type of program. Although, for example, Daniel admitted that he had not yet felt the grandeur of the moment. There is only discomfort and heaviness in the legs - there is simply no strength to stand - because they did their best not only by 100 percent, but by all 200.

Especially in the semi-finals, where our guys set an Olympic record - 3 minutes 36.61 seconds, which allowed them to beat the Americans Ethan Kepuran, Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman by 0.44 seconds. And the rivals from the USA, by the way, are the current world champions, who have never been beaten this season. There was a good acceleration before the A final. Silver medals were guaranteed, but there was a desire to fight for the victory. True, as the guys admit, it was already harder to tune in. As a result, in the decisive race, they lost 2.38 seconds to the Norwegians Halgeir Engebroten, Peder Kongshaug and Sverra Lund Pedersen (3:38.08).

Here are the turns

But we still have the Olympic record. And a silver medal. In general, our trio is very unusual. Ruslan Zakharov became the first Russian athlete to win Olympic medals in both short track and speed skating. At the 2014 Sochi Games, he took gold as a short track skater in the relay. Even during the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010, Ruslan received offers to try himself on a large speed skating oval. But the athlete was not afraid to change his sports fate and career so abruptly. Decided only by the age of 30. And I didn't guess.

Ruslan, how do you feel about silver? You have something to compare with.

Ruslan Zakharov: Today is a big day for the Russian Skating Union. We're making history and that's great! Although right now there is a slight residue from "silver". If we won the bronze, of course, we would jump for joy. And yet, in the final, they did not cope with the Norwegians ...

Olympic record is also a reason to be proud...

Ruslan Zakharov: The Americans in this line-up were already beaten two years ago at the World Championships. They have a lot of young guys, they are progressing fast. I am glad that we were able to beat them today in the semi-finals, and even with an Olympic record.

Ruslan Zakharov became the first Russian athlete to win Olympic medals in both short track and speed skating

We had a spare in our team - Alexander Rumyantsev. Will he be left without a medal?

Ruslan Zakharov: I would like to support Sanya. Unfortunately, he will not receive a medal. We are friends, we always live in the same room. Sanya is a very cool athlete, he taught me a lot, especially when I just moved from short track. It's a shame for him now, but this is a sport. He gets cruel. But this is a medal for our entire big cool team - athletes, coaches, staff.

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Tears are shining

The Russian women's team also fought for medals in the team race, but took the most disappointing fourth place.

For reaching the final, our girls fought with Japanese women, who by that time had already set an Olympic record in Beijing.

- At first, we were very tense in the semi-finals with the Japanese. The first three laps ran at the maximum, they did not save strength, Evgenia Lalenkova told reporters. - With the Japanese, the task was to impose a fight and try to run the first and second laps faster. So they did, but on the third lap there was a backlog. They understood that there was no point in working further with all their might.

Well, the conversation about the lost bronze ended in tears of the athlete.

- I don't know what to say about defeat. We've been preparing for this all season. They showed it at a height, but it should be faster there. We must admit that fourth place is the result we were objectively ready for this season. When we made it to the semi-finals, there was a hope that we could try to do something for bronze, - said Lalenkova. - We had a good race, it was just slow.

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