Turin 2006 Winter Olympics

Olympic Speedskating News

Hughes wins women's 5,000 meters; Klassen earns fifth medal

TORINO, Italy (Ticker) - Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen made the final day of the speedskating competition most memorable for Canada.

Hughes won the gold in the women's 5,000 meters, completing the distance in 6 minutes, 59.07 seconds to edge German Claudia Pechstein by 1.01 seconds.

After rallying past Pechstein on the last lap of the final of eight pairings, Hughes - the bronze medalist behind the German four years ago - collapsed, having spent all her energy.

"I just believed in myself and knew that my strength would be in my finish," said Hughes, who also won silver in the team pursuit here. "And I just bided my time. ... It almost killed me, but that's what it takes to win the Olympics today. It is a dream."

Pechstein, who earned her ninth career Olympic medal - including the gold in the team pursuit here - had won the last three golds in the 5,000.

Klassen, Hughes' Canadian teammate, earned the bronze - her fifth medal of the Torino Games - after posting a time of 7:00.57 in the seventh pairing, but both Hughes and Pechstein surpassed her mark.

Klassen already had won gold in the 1,500, silver in both the 1,000 and team pursuit and bronze in the 3,000. Coupled with a medal from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, she became the most decorated Olympic athlete - Summer or Winter - in Canadian history.

"It was a tough race," said Klassen, who slowed down drastically on the last lap. "I started on a pace that I thought I could keep, but the last couple laps were really hard.

"Clara, on the other hand, had an amazing race. She really held it together and had such a great fight at the end, and passed Claudia. She just had an incredible race. I'm so happy for her."

Catherine Raney, the lone American entered, finished seventh at 7:04.91.

Updated on Saturday, Feb 25, 2006 1:00 pm, EST

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