Olympic rookie seeks to end speed skating drought

The only long track speed skating event the U.S. hasn’t come up empty in at the PyeongChang Olympics so far is one without any Americans in the field.

The Americans, who were also shut out four years ago in Sochi, are 0-for-5 in PyeongChang. The team did not have an entry in the men’s 10,000m on Thursday.

Olympic rookie Carlijn Schoutens hopes to put an end to that slide with the women’s 5000m, which starts at 6 a.m. ET Friday.

Schoutens made her Olympic debut over the weekend with the 3000m event, in which she finished 22nd out of 24 competitors.

Schoutens won both the 3000m and 5000m events at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last month.

Born in New Jersey to Dutch parents studying abroad, her family returned to the Netherlands when she was seven months old. She competed in the Netherlands until coming to Team USA in 2014.

The 23-year-old medical student’s best finish on the 2017-18 World Cup circuit came in her home country in November with a fourth-place finish in the 3000m at Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Dutch skaters have dominated the long track speed skating events in PyeongChang so far, capturing five out of the six golds awarded and 10 out of the 18 medals overall.

The Americans’ best finish so far has come with Brittany Bowe’s fourth-place finish Wednesday in the 1000m.