Hughes ties Klassen with 6th Olympic medal

Vancouver opening ceremony flag-bearer wins speedskating bronze

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | 7:17 PM ET

By Chris Iorfida, CBC Sports

Speedskater Clara Hughes, in her final individual Olympic race, tied teammate Cindy Klassen's all-time record for a Canadian with a sixth career Olympic medal on Wednesday, a bronze in the women's 5,000 metres.

Hughes, now living in Glen Sutton, Que., set a Richmond Oval record with a time of six minutes 55.73 seconds. The Canadian flag-bearer in the opening ceremony now has four Winter Olympic medals (one gold, one silver, two bronze) and two from the Summer Games in cycling.

The time the Winnipeg-born Hughes set was later surpassed by Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic, the winner, and Stephanie Beckert of Germany.

But that could hardly put a dent in her mood.

"That was awesome," said Hughes. "That was the best I had, that was one of the best races I've ever done and it was the best race I've ever done at the Olympics, including the one I won four years ago.

"I brought great technique into that race, and just was able to finally enjoy skating at this level and feel like I was really moving on the ice, and it was such an amazing feeling."

Daniela Anschutz Thoms of Germany had a chance in the final pairing with Sablikova to beat Hughes and get on the podium, but was left in fourth, an all-too-common occurrence in her Olympic and world championship career.

Ottawa's Kristina Groves finished sixth. Klassen, from Winnipeg, came in 12th.

Canada now has six gold medals, four silver and two bronze at the Vancouver Olympics.

Outside-chance winner

Hughes, 37, was the defending Olympic champion in the 5,000, but was an outside contender for a medal. Her best showing at 3,000 or greater on the World Cup circuit this season was a fourth.

All five of those races have been won either by world-record holder Sablikova or Beckert.

Those two skaters also finished in the same place in the women's 5,000 earlier in the Games.

But there was no doubt Hughes was in the hunt after skating 12 seconds ahead of American Jillianne Rookard's leading pace with three pairings to go.

Groves skated with Beckert, and while she has landed on the World Cup podium once this season at 3,000, she has had a heavy workload in Richmond and began to gradually slip off the pace, settling at 7:04.57.

Groves, 33, has won silver in the 1,500 and bronze in the 3,000. She also collected two silver from the Torino Games.

Klassen crossed the line in 7:22.09.

'My legs got to me at the end'

Klassen, 30, has treated these Olympics as enjoyment, having come off double knee surgery last year and the difficult family time after her sister's serious car accident two years ago.

"The beginning felt pretty good, pretty easy and I thought, 'Hmmmm, maybe I can hold this for a while,"' said Klassen. "But my legs got to me at the end there."

Klassen said she is undecided whether she would continue her speedskating career.

Beckert, 21, shaved over four seconds off the time of Hughes and then had to wait for teammate Anschutz Thoms and Sablikova.

Sablikova, 22, had a time of 6:50.91 and now has two gold and a bronze in Vancouver.

The Czech skater holds the world record of 6:45.61, set in Salt Lake City nearly three years ago.

The Olympic record set on the fast Utah track in 2002 was 6:46.91 by Claudia Pechstein, who later took silver behind Hughes in the Torino 3,000 race. The German skater hoped to compete one last time at the Games, but her two-year suspension for irregular red blood cell levels was only recently upheld.

The Canadian women's long-track speedskating team now has four medals at the Games. That includes a gold for Christine Nesbitt in the 1,000.

The team pursuit will take place on Saturday. Groves, Nesbitt and Winnipeg's Brittany Schussler set a world record of 2:55.79 in the event in Calgary in December.