Beijing, Feb. 11 (BNA): Sweden’s Nils van der Poel broke his own world record and claimed his second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics with a dominant victory in the men’s 10,000m speed skating on Friday.
Van der Poel added to his 5000 race win, which was much closer.
This time, only the 25-year-old was off the clock, the AP reports.
Van der Poel swung his arms to build extra speed during his closing laps, crossing the line in 12 minutes 30.74 seconds.
The Swede easily broke the world record 12:32.95 he set in February 2021 and was more than 9 seconds ahead of the Olympic record set four years earlier by defending champion Ted Jean Plomen of Canada.
The silver went to Dutchman Patrick Roest, the same place he finished behind Van der Paul in the 5000, but this time he was 14 seconds behind with a time of 12:44.59.
The margin at 5000 was only 0.47 seconds.
Italian Davide Giotto, who skated in the penultimate match with Van der Poel, took bronze with a time of 12: 45.98, although he could hardly see the champion in front.
Bloemen finished eighth.
Van der Poel’s win came after the Dutch FA was torn apart by a report that he was trying to influence the ice makers at the Oval to create conditions that benefit the skaters.
While he said he had nothing against the athletes from the Netherlands, Van der Poel described the report as a sign of “corruption” that should be investigated by the International Olympic Committee and the International Ski Federation.
Dutch officials ignored the complaints.
Dutchman Jorit Bergsma failed to become the third skater to win three medals in the longest Olympic race in speed skating. He finished fourth, 3 seconds behind Giotto. Bergsma won the gold medal in 2014 and the silver medal in 2018.
Van der Poel is the only non-Dutch winner during the first six events at the Oval.
The Netherlands won four golds and eight medals overall during the first six events.