Speedskating: Kazakhstan's skaters gain 11 licenses for Sochi Olympics

Speed skaters of Kazakhstan have guaranteed themselves 11 spots in the 22nd winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Vesti.kz reports citing the chief coach of the Kazakhstan national team Vadim Sayutin. "The Kazakhstan national team has come back from the World Cup stages that were held at the world fastest skating rinks in Canadian Calgary and American Salt Lake City. The results of the compensations have determined 90% of the Kazakhstan speed-skating team for the Sochi Olympics," Soyutin said. The coach specifically marked the performance of Kazakhstan's World Champion Denis Kuzin, who gained the 4th place after two stages of the World Cup. "Speaking about other skaters, five members of the Kazakhstan national team complied with the international requirements and qualified for the list of the Olympic participants," the coach said. However, the team has some losses, its sprinter Roman Krech was injured right before the start of the competitions and couldn’t compete in the tournaments. But Sayutin does not preclude that he will still got to the Olympics. According to the chief coach, training for the competition goes along the developed plan. The second stage of the qualifications will be over after the World Cup stages in Astana and Berlin. The Astana stage was held in the end of November and was pretty successful for the Kazakhstan skaters and Berlin stage is due in December a couple of days from now. Later the team is going to have one more training session in Cyprus. The World Sprint Multidiscipline Championship and the Sochi Olympics are the conclusive part of the season. The World Cup stage in Kazakhstan will started on November 29. The world's leading speed skaters competed for the world points to get a pass to the Sochi Olympics.