BEIJING -- Japan Olympic team captain Miho Takagi finished sixth on Saturday in her first event of the Beijing Games, the women's 3000 meters.
Takagi finished in 4:01.77, while Ayano Sato was ninth in 4:03.40. Dutch skater Irene Schouten set a new Olympic record to win the gold medal in 3:56.93.
Takagi's face was grim after crossing the finish line. "I tried to go faster in the lap after the first 200 meters, but I couldn't," she said, apparently trying to force down her bitter disappointment.
Despite her experience, Takagi was feeling her way in the race. She's familiar with the rinks she's skated on around the world, but it was her first time on this Beijing rink.
"I had no idea what time [I could aim for]," she said. Takagi also started in the third of ten pairs, ahead of the most talented competitors, prompting her to say, "I didn't even know how fast a time would give me a chance at a medal."
Even more than usual, it was a race with herself.
The 3000-meter race starts with 200 meters, followed by seven laps of the 400-meter rink. When Takagi posted the fastest time on Japanese soil at the final Olympic qualifiers in December last year in Nagano, which like the Beijing rink is not a high-altitude rink, she was aware of the need to "build up speed first and stay it in a good rhythm."
The first 200 meters Saturday went exactly the same for Takagi as in the qualifiers, 19.58 seconds. However, she could not accelerate in the next lap and her time was 31.24 seconds, compared to 30.63 seconds in Nagano, a disappointing start for her.
Takagi has four more events at the Beijing Games. Having skated on the rink, "it will be easier for me to visualize how I should build up for the 1500," she said.
She vowed to rally in the 1500 meters, in which she holds the world record and won three consecutive World Cup races this season.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
