Natalia Voronina aiming for team pursuit reward

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games have not gone according to plan for ROC speed skater Natalia Voronina.

The world record holder and 2020 world champion over 5000m could only manage sixth in her best event behind Dutchwoman Irene Schouten who won her second gold in the Chinese capital on Thursday (10 February).

Last Saturday, Voronina finished 11th - again behind Schouten - in the 3000m.

She has one chance remaining to add to her 5000m bronze from PyeongChang 2018 with ROC competing in the team pursuit which starts on Saturday.

Even so, the Games have been something of a disappointment for the 27-year-old who told stnmedia.ru: "The main goals of any professional athlete are to win Olympic and world titles."

Voronina set a world record of 6:39.02 in taking the 5000m title at the 2020 World Single Distance Championships in Salt Lake City, ending Czech hero Martina Sablikova's incredible run of 10 straight titles from 2007 to 2019.

That mark still stands today with Schouten clocking 6:43.51 in Beijing to break Claudia Pechstein's 20-year-old Olympic record.

Voronina's 2020 triumph ranks as her career highlight, but she was soon setting herself new targets.

She said, "To be honest, I'm not a particularly emotional person. Of course, I was pleased to break the world record and win but this feeling did not stay with me for long.

"I was happy for a while and then switched to other goals and objectives."

Voronina made her international debut at the 2011 RSU Open Summer Cup in Chelyabinsk where she finished 14th in the 1000m and 32nd over 500m.

She has gone on to be a prolific medallist over longer distances with no fewer than 10 medals at World Championships (one gold, one silver, eight bronze) and three silvers and a bronze