18 Jan 2018

Trio named in Olympic speed skating team

9:42 am on 18 January 2018

For the first time in New Zealand Winter Olympic history, a trio of speed skaters will compete in the Team Pursuit at the PyeongChang 2018 Games.

Shane Dobbin at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

Shane Dobbin. Photo: AFP

Peter Michael, Reyon Kay and Shane Dobbin have all been selected by the New Zealand Olympic Committee to compete in both individual disciplines and the Team Pursuit.

It is the first time New Zealand has ever qualified a long track speed skating team for the team pursuit event.

The trio all transitioned from inline skating and are all former world champions in that sport.

The athletes are coached by Kalon Dobbin (Shane's brother) and split their time between the USA, Canada and Europe as they travel to compete on the ISU Speed Skating World Cup circuit.

In the Team Pursuit they've amassed four World Cup podiums in the past 18 months, and a second placing at the 2017 World Championships. The team have a current ranking of second in the 2017/2018 World Cup.

Individually the athletes have also posted strong results.

Peter Michael won World Cup gold in the 5,000m and 1,500m in 2016 and World Championship bronze in the 5,000m in 2017.

Reyon Kay won World Cup silver in the Mass Start in 2017.

The trio is currently in Calgary where they are training ahead of PyeongChang 2018.

-RNZ