MILAN - Feeling her age while struggling to find form in the preseason, Japan's seven-time Olympic medal-winning speed skater Miho Takagi felt challenged like never before as she approached her fourth Winter Games.

The 31-year-old, who made her Olympic debut in 2010, felt unable to rely on her experience as she grappled with uncertainty, but she eventually overcame it with a new, calculated approach that she resolved to take 100 days before the Milan Cortina Games.

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