Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Japan's women captured the team gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics, beating the defending champion Netherlands on Wednesday.
The world record-holding Japanese trio of sisters Miho and Nana Takagi and Ayano Sato defeated the Dutch in the gold medal race, winning in an Olympic-record 2 minutes, 53.89 seconds at Gangneung Oval. The same Dutch trio of Marrit Leenstra, Ireen Wust and Antoinette de Jong had raced to the previous Olympic-record 2:55.61 in qualifying on Monday.