3 skaters are in each team. There is 2 team on the ice, starting opposite
sides. The race is 8 laps for men (400m per lap, since they are always
skating in the inside lane) and 6 laps for women. To win, you have to be the
fastest or to catch other team. At the Olympic, catch-up will almost only
happens if someone fall. They can do relays as often and anywhere they want.
The clock is stopped when the 3rd skater is crossing the line. As opposite
to team pursuit in cycling, a team can't afford to lose a member (like US
did in second round when Boutillette was left behind in the second round).

In the world cups, the race is a time trial and the fastest team win the
race. At the Olympics, there is 4 rounds. First round is only for time. Then
they sort the team from fastest to slowest. In the second round, it's 1 vs
8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5. The winning teams advance to semi-finals and
the two winning teams from semis are going to finals.

Hope it will answer your questions!

SebB




a écrit dans le message de news:
...
It's cool to see the inline skate champ of marathons and what not doing
so great in ice speedskating. Chad is also a big inline innovator,
right? Wasn't he a main guy to develop the doublepush?

Anyway, I couldn't find out what the Team Pursuit was that he and his
team lost. Is it like in bike racing? ---Two teams on the ice, starting
opposite sides, trying to catch each other? Distance?

Thanks, JP