Paul Friesen

TURIN, Italy - Enjoyed the Cindy Klassen-Anni Friesinger showdown the other day ?

Well, pull up a chair and prepare for Canada versus Germany, Part 2.

It's Winnipeg's Clara Hughes against Claudia Pechstein, the three-time defending gold medallist, head-to-head in the last pairing of today's 5,000-metre speed- skating event.

Like the Klassen-Friesinger matchup in Wednesday's 1,500, this one has all kinds of history attached to it.

For the 36-year-old Pechstein to win four of these in a row would be precedent-setting.

A win by Hughes, 33, would add to a legacy that has seen her become the first Olympian in history to win more than one medal at both the Summer and Winter Games.

Any other year and Hughes would be one of the stars of the Canadian show.

It's hard to imagine anybody winning a history-making medal as quietly as Hughes did last week. Her silver in the team pursuit event made it two medals in Winter Games (the other, a bronze in Salt Lake City), two in Summer (cycling, 1996). Incredibly, that bit of history didn't get any play here.

Hughes' anonymity could suffer a blow today, as she tries to complete her own Drive for Five in the 5,000.

Don't count her out. If there's one thing this redhead has, it's endurance.

"A gigantic engine," is how her coach, Arno Hoogveld, described Hughes yesterday.

"Like the Energizer Bunny."

The batteries looked in need of recharging when Hughes raced the 3,000 on Day 2.

"I just felt like my legs weighed two tons," she said at the time. "I came out of that race and watched the video and I looked horrible, basically. It was like skating in quicksand.

"I just have to calm down. Just totally mentally and physically prepare for the race of my life and the fight of my life on the 25th."

The 5,000 is a unique animal, presenting a different fight than the shorter distances.

If the 1,000 is a furious 75 seconds in a cage with a tiger, then the 5,000 is a wolf in the wild, one that will stalk you for a full seven minutes, wearing you down until you collapse.

What separates Hughes from the pack : Her survival instinct. "She has the capability to suffer," Hoogveld said. "When a race gets really tough, she just keeps going."

Running parallel to Hughes' story is that of Klassen, who'll attempt to add to her record of four medals at a single Olympics.

It's possible Hughes gets career medal No. 5, while Klassen grabs career No. 6.

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