Nils van der Poel wins gold in men’s 10,000m speed skating in world record

0
Sweden’s Nils van der Poel skates to a new world record in the men’s 10,000m speed skating event on February 11. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Sweden’s Nils van der Poel broke his own world record in the men’s 10,000m speed skating race to claim his second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.

Van der Poel’s time of 12:30.74 was more than two seconds faster than the previous mark he set last February at the World Championships in the Netherlands.

After the race, van Der Poel said: “Coming in I thought I should be ready to beat second. I was sticking with that. Technically I didn’t have my best race, but physically I’m in fine fettle .

“I didn’t want to risk going too hard too soon. With five laps to go, I felt like the world record was within reach, so I went for it.

“I’m very satisfied. That was the main goal when I started three years ago. It turned out much better than I could have imagined.”

With the win, the Swede became the first male speed skater to win the 5,000m and 10,000m at the same Winter Games since Dutch speed skater Jochem Uytdehaage in 2002.

Patrick Roest of the Netherlands finished with a time of 12:44.59 – 13.85 seconds behind the Swede – to win the silver medal. Italian Davide Ghiotto clocked 12:45.98 to claim bronze.

The gold medal is fifth for Sweden, which now sits one spot behind Norway and Germany’s six in the Olympic medal table.

Share.

About Author

Comments are closed.