@FDG135: To achieve the greatest range, there is an optimum speed an aircraft (any aircraft) must fly. If the aircraft is flown at a speed greater than the optimum, the range will be reduced. If flown at a speed slower than optimum, the range will again be reduced.
There is ONE optimum speed for maximum range. That speed tends to be quite a bit slower than normal cruising speed however, so it is only used when maximum range (or maximum fuel conservation) is required.
It makes perfect sense for the authorities to say "the plane travelled less distance because it was travelling faster".
Everyone knows that there is an optimum speed for distance of travel for a given amount of fuel and hence, that any vehicle traveling faster than the optimum speed will travel a shorter distance in a shorter time. Using the faster = shorter explanation hence provides some specious credibility to what really is an admission of previous mistakes.
The current location is shorter than the previously estimated position for a KNOWN TIME 8.11, which was based on a slower speed. That's impossible. Perhaps they know something knew, which they are not sharing. Perhaps the 8.11 ping is a myth.