Sweden’s Nils van der Poel smashed his own world record in the men’s 10,000m speedskating event to secure his second gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Friday.
Van der Poel’s time of 12:30.74, was over 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, “Going in, I thought I should be set to beat second. I was sticking to going after that. Technically, I didn’t have my best race, but physically, I am in great shape.
“I didn’t want to risk going too hard too early. With five laps to go, I felt like the world record was in reach, so I just went for that.
“I am very satisfied. This was the main goal when I started three years ago. It turned out a lot better than I could have ever imagined.”
With the victory, the Swede became the first men’s speed skater to win the 5,000m and the 10,000m events 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. Italy’s Davide Ghiotto notched a time of 12:45.98 to claim the bronze.
The gold medal is the fifth for Sweden, which now sits one behind Norway and Germany’s six on the Olympic medal table.
