Clara Hughes takes speed skating bronze in 5,000-metre

Medalist’s last Olympics; has taken the podium in both Summer and Winter Games

Canada’s Clara Hughes has taken the bronze in the in 5,000-metre race at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The Czech Republic’s Martina Sablikova took the gold and Germany’s Stephanie Beckert won silver. “I skated really well technically… I felt like I had just a good rhythm today,” the breathless medalist told CTV shortly after the event, who posted a respectable time of 6:55.73. The 37-year-old Hughes is the first woman to medal in both the Summer and Winter Games; she won gold in the 5,000 in Turin in 2006 and silver in the team pursuit, bronze in the 5,000 at Salt Lake City in 2002, and two cycling bronze medals in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. Ottawa’s Kristina Groves finished sixth with a time of 7:04.57.

Montreal Gazette