Federal Way native speedskaters finish 5th as part of Olympic relay team

Celski, Tran part of relay that won the B final Thursday.

The United State men’s 5,000-meter relay team wrapped up the short track program at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, winning the B Final on Thursday evening at the Gangneung Ice Arena.

Federal Way natives JR Celski and Aaron Tran, Thomas Hong and John-Henry Krueger won with a time of 6 minutes, 52.708 seconds, finishing fifth overall.

“It’s been a fun ride all season,” Celski said. “We’ve had a lot of success. We’ve come back from positions that we didn’t think we could do well from.”

The U.S. finished last week’s 5,000-meter relay semifinal in third place behind Hungary, who won gold, and the Republic of Korea to advance to Thursday’s B Final.

“(The Olympics have) been unreal,” Tran said. “The atmosphere and everything has been a dream.”

For results, post-race interviews and other media information, visit the US Speedskating Media Page.