The four-man squad consisted of Daniil Aldoshkin, Alexander Rumyantsev, Sergei Trofimov and Ruslan Zakharov.

In the semi-finals, the ROC team posted an Olympic record of 3min 36.62sec to defeat the United States.

In the final the ROC team faced Norway but could not replicate the record-setting form of the previous race, clocking 3:40.46 to claim the silver medal.

The first member of the squad Aldoshkin made his debut at the 2019 World Cup in Nagano, Japan, when he finished 11^th in the 5,000 metres B race.

Prior to Beijing 2022, his best performance on the international stage came when he finished sixth in the men’s 5,000 metres at the World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen, The Netherlands.

Aldoshkin started skating in Kolomna, Russia, at the age of five.

The second member of the squad Rumyantsev is competing at a third Winter Olympics, after also participating at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.

Earlier in Beijing 2022, Rumyantsev finished sixth in the men’s 5,000 metres and fifth in the men’s 10,000 metres.

His best individual performance on the international stage came at the 2021 World Single Distance Championships in Heerenveen, where he won a bronze medal.

Rumyantsev took up speed skating at the age of 11 in Arkhangelsk, but had to contend with extremely cold temperatures, which sometimes dropped to -30 degrees Celsius.

The third member of the squad is Sergei Trofimov, who is competing in a second Olympics after finishing 18^th in the men’s 1500 metres at Pyeongchang.

Earlier in Beijing Trofimov finished eighth in the men’s 1500 metres and fourth in the men’s 5,000 metres.

Trofimov’s best World Cup result came in 2018 at Obihiro in Japan, when he was part of the line-up that won gold in the team pursuit.

Speed skating runs in the family of Trofimov, who took up the sport at the age of 14.

His father Sergey Trofimov and mother Irina Lvovna both competed in the sport at national level, while his partner Darya Beskrovnykh won three medals at Russian National Championships in team competitions.

The fourth member of the squad is Ruslan Zakharov, who won gold at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games in the 5,000 metres short track speed skating relay.

After transitioning to long track speed skating, Zakharov’s best international results previously came at two World Cups - at Obihiro, Japan in November 2018 and Nagano, Japan in December 2019.

Zakharov switched from short track to long track after being relegated to the Russian Federation short track B team.

Earlier in Beijing, he finished 14^th and 15^th respectively in the men’s 5,000 metres and 1500 metres.