World Championship Women's 8+ Splits

Not to appear sexist I now provide the 500 m splits from the women's 8+ as well:

Women's 8+

1 USA 01:25.6 01:29.5 01:30.9 01:29.5
2 GER 01:27.5 01:29.9 01:30.5 01:29.4
3 AUS 01:28.2 01:30.0 01:31.5 01:30.6
4 CHN 01:27.9 01:31.5 01:32.0 01:29.6
5 CAN 01:29.5 01:31.8 01:31.8 01:30.2
6 ROM 01:29.3 01:31.7 01:33.4 01:33.8

The women appear far more consistent than the men do, with the possible exceptin of the Romanians - who I expect aren't used to being where they were!

The USA actually had the worst change from first 500 to second 500, although we should note that they probably knew at that point that they had a good lead.

There are many interpretations - what's your take? Hit the link below marked "comment" - please.