Canadian Ice Maples claim gold in women's relay at Short Track World Tour in Vancouver

We're underway in the women's 3,000-meter final, 27 laps and a whole bunch of pushing among the teammates. And right now, as expected, Netherlands with the early lead. Well, as we get a look at that first exchange, so I guess it might be a good opportunity to talk about what makes a good exchange. And so you see the teams coming around. Of course, what they're really doing is they're tagging off from one skater to the next. but because they can at the same time give some speed to their teammate they're doing it through a push and so you want those skater who's coming on to the ice from the middle to be matching the speed of the skater that is on the track coming at a good angle so not too wide not too tight right in front of your teammate and then making sure that you're just staying out of the way so that your teammate can push you well down the track and you saw the Canadians have Just a little bit of a problem with their exchange there. Losing a position now into fourth place. This is not an ideal position for the Canadians. So if I'm in their shoes right now, I'm trying to look for an opportunity. Of course, the exchanges can take place at any point in the lap. So you can sort of skip an exchange if somebody wants to do a pass and take two laps. And then you can get back onto your exchange interval. That's what makes sense. it's the oldest saying in the world but they say revenge is best served cold Oh we have a fall here walk us through this one michael what happens when they fall when you're talking about a relay can that person get themselves you know up and ready to go again and you skip over them yeah so in that case where the where the italians fell as long as they had already made their exchange they made that tag it's no problem they can keep going but if somebody does fall in a relay the teams can tag up and continue on with the other skaters or with their teammates obviously if your team goes into the mats though you are losing valuable time and you just saw that video review so there was a little bit of a video review there it was a yellow button that's turned to green, the video review judges are reviewing these potential infractions live in race, so they once it goes to green like that it means there will be no penalty, it's clear and it's all to play for still before we had that fall I was asking you to mention this is a replay of the Olympic Games, how much is that in their heads? I know, I know athletes love to say to us press people, hey no no, I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about this race, but you gotta, you gotta figure it's still in their heads, it wasn't that long ago, it wasn't that long ago and you think of the Dutch team, they they were definitely the favorites going into that, ended up fourth after having a slip in mid-race, so you know maybe there's a little bit something they'd like to come back, as you see a beautiful outside pass Shim Soo-kyung, she's been on the circuit since before the 2014 Olympic Games beautifully executed pass and you can just see how much difference a good pass followed by a good exchange can make as the Koreans have gained a little bit of a gap here Olympic champs and the Dutch Lions battling it out nice move Florence Brunel to move the Canadians in a second but looks like she might be giving that spot back up to Zandra Velez this has been a tight race from the opening gun but right now it's the Olympic champs leading the way you see the one video review there as Michael mentioned it's green so everything was all good continue racing another nice exchange there by the Canadians who've been using those to good effect to make passes as the the Dutch team starts to have a little bit of problem the White Tigers leading the way, but the Ice Maples looking to make a move. Osorio too wide. Giving up position now. Very tight in these exchanges. As Canada's in third, two laps to go. The Italians leading the way. The Lions another little click. The Tigers finish in second. But something tells me yep, there it is. Not one, but two yellow lights. We're going to have to wait and see, Michael. Holy smokes. What a finish to that relay that is short track folks so many lead changes in those final laps very tight racing between all four teams like you mentioned Rob two reviews to look at in that final exchange we saw two teams go down and the Canadian Ice Maples look to be the benefactors of those contacts or those crashes as we get a look here at some of the early action in this relay wow there was that exchange where the Italians went down you saw them get that tag in so that's no problem they're on to the races here we go we're gonna start to get a look the Canadians shuffling is back as far as fourth late in the race Sukhee with that beautiful outside pass it looked like the korean team was sort of free and clear here they looked so in control but they found themselves in a spot of trouble as the dutch team worked their way back up to the front this is where things started to get a little crazy Courtney Sorel going backwards at that exchange or just before that exchange and then the netherlands with a beautiful exchange to Zander Velzeboer picked up two spots and here there possible arm block i would say maybe by the italian skater her left arm there could have been what was responsible for Velzeboer going down and on the outside with some speed florence brunel and the canadian team okay and you see the italian pleading her case final decision penalty for arm block team italy yeah and there was that arm block i don't know necessarily if that arm block was intentional so much as she may have been just losing her balance a little bit recognizing the pressure of Xander Velzeboer on the inside here Velzeboer coming at almost a little slip from the italian i think more than anything but nevertheless her arm did impede the progress of Xander Velzeboer who was setting up a pass to win that race they both go down but florence brunel yeah with speed on the outside the canadian team takes it the ice maples with a gold medal in the women's 3000 meter relay the italian coaching staff shaking their heads they don't agree i think the Canadians are happy with that one got maybe a little bit of an assist as you mentioned there from the Italians as Velzeboer was making that move we don't know if she would have made it it doesn't matter if she would have made it because the Canadians end up at the top of the podium Korea they're sitting with the silver medal the Dutch Lions with the bronze. See you in studio.