February 06, (THEWILL) – Nils van der Poel has won gold in the 5,000 metres on Sunday at the Beijing Olympics, giving Sweden its first Olympic medal in speedskating since 1988.
Van der Poel entered the event as the defending world champion, with an undefeated record in the distance events on the World Cup circuit this season.
In the 12 1/2-lap race at the Ice Ribbon track, the 25-year-old lived up to the anticipation, putting on a show at the end to beat out Patrick Roest of the Netherlands, who set an Olympic record of 6 minutes, 8.84 seconds.
Roest had skated in the sixth of ten pairs about an hour before, breaking the Olympic record in 6.09.31.
Then Van der Poel sat in the gym, nervously watching as pair after couple failed to beat his time. With only three laps to go, it appeared that van der Poel would also fall short in the final group, since he was 2 seconds behind Roest’s pace.
The Swede then stepped things up a notch. With each stride, he sliced into Roest’s time, his progress reflected in real time on the scoreboard, thrilling the small audience following his progress with intensity.
Van der Poel had barely enough time to claim the gold, as it turned out. His final loop was a blistering 28.97, which was his second-fastest of the marathon. When Van der Poel saw the winning time, he threw up his arms.Â
Roest, who was watching the race on a TV screen, groaned and bowed his head in shock, prompting his coaches to gather around him to console him. Hallgeir Engebraaten of Norway won bronze in 6:09.88.
Since Tomas Gustafson’s gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Calgary Games 34 years ago, Van der Poel became the first Swedish speedskater to win a medal. The Swedes had not finished higher than sixth in an Olympic race since that time.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
