Beijing : Nils van der Poel of Sweden broke his own world record and captured his second gold medal of the Beijing Olympics with a dominant victory in men’s 10,000-meter speedskating Friday.
Van der Poel added to his victory in the 5,000, which was a much closer affair.
This time, it was just the outspoken 25-year-old vs. the clock.
Swinging both arms to build extra speed over his closing laps, van der Poel crossed the line in 12 minutes, 30.74 seconds.
The Swede easily broke the world mark of 12:32.95 he set in February 2021 and was more than 9 seconds ahead of the Olympic record set four years ago by reigning champion Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada.
The silver medal went to Patrick Roest of the Netherlands, the same spot he took behind van der Poel in the 5,000, but this time he was nearly 14 seconds behind in 12:44.59.
The margin in the 5,000 was just 0.47 seconds.
Italy’s Davide Ghiotto, who skated in the next-to-last pair with van der Poel, grabbed the bronze in 12:45.98, though he could barely see the champion up ahead.
Bloemen finished eighth.
Van der Poel’s victory came after he ripped the Dutch federation over a report that it was trying to influence ice makers at the oval to set up conditions that benefit its skaters.
While saying he had nothing against athletes from the Netherlands, van der Poel called the report a sign of “corruption” that needed to be investigated by the IOC and the International Skating Union.
Dutch officials shrugged off the complaints.
Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands failed to become just the third skater to win three medals in speedskating’s longest Olympic race. He finished fourth, about 3 seconds behind Ghiotto. Bergsma won the gold in 2014 and a silver in 2018.
Van der Poel is the only non-Dutch winner through the first six events at the oval.
The Netherlands has won four golds and eight medals overall through the first six events.
