It's still early at 2014 Winter Olympics, but for Japan, Sochi is looking more like a repeat of the 2006 Torino Games than the 2010 Vancouver Olympics so far.

For a team that set a goal of five gold medals — and 10 medals in all — Joji Kato and Keiichiro Nagashima's defeat in the men's speedskating 500 meters on Monday was nothing short of a crushing blow.

"We were beaten, comprehensively," said Vancouver bronze medalist Kato, who finished fifth as the powerful Dutch trio of Michel and Ronald Mulder and Jan Smeekens swept the podium. "We didn't stand a chance."