Kjeld Nuis golden again in the 1000m, Lorentzen wins silver

The Dutch are golden again as Kjeld Nuis comes out on top in the 1000m. Havard Lorentzen, the 500m winner from earlier this week, finished in second place to capture the silver medal. Rounding off the podium was 23 years old Tae-Yun Kim of Korea.

By Maria Dalton

Photos by Schaats Foto's

Kjeld Nuis strikes gold again

Kjeld Nuis wins his second gold medal of the games and continues his dominating 2017/2018 season. His speedy time of 1:07.95 was just enough to edge Havard Lorentzen out of first place by 4 one-hundredths of a second. Nuis repeated his performance from last years’ World Single Distance championships as he claimed the top spot in both the 1000m and 1500m. With his performance today, the Dutchman becomes the first man since Gaetan Boucher in 1984 to win gold in both the 1500m and 1000m. With Nuis’ medal today, the Dutch bring their total medal count in speed skating from these games to 14, seven of which are gold.

Havard Lorentzen of Norway finished with a time of 1:07.99, and had to play the waiting game to see if his time would hold with two pairs left to skate. The last pair saw Kjeld Nuis overtake him for the top spot, as Lorentzen finished in the silver medal position. The Norwegian was the first of only two men to go sub-1:08.00 today at the Gangneung Oval, and he finishes his Olympic games with one gold and one silver medal.

The final podium spot went to Tea-Yun Kim of Korea, much to the delight of fans in the crowd. The 23 year-old vastly improved upon his 30th place finish at the Sochi Olympics, and earned his best international finish in the 1000m with his bronze medal today.

Shani Davis’ final Olympic Race

The legendary Shani Davis, ends his final Olympics with a top 10 finish today. The 35 year-old American, who is competing in his fourth and last Olympics, finished his last Olympic race in 7th place with a time of 1:08.78. Davis has four Olympic medals to his name, two gold and two silver, and is the current world record holder in the 1000m. He has previously stated that his goal was to win a medal at the 2018 games, and declined to talk with the media after his race today.

Davis’ compatriot Joey Mantia skated in the 13th pair, and finished just off the podium in 4th place. His result today is an improvement on his 15th place finish in Sochi four years ago, but is surely a tough pill to swallow as he was so close to winning his first Olympic medal. Mantia will now shift his focus to the mass start this weekend where he is considered a strong contender to end up on the podium.

Disappointment for the Canadians once again

Three Canadian skaters were in action today at the Gangneung Oval, but the struggle continued for the Canadians as they failed to post any top 10 finishes. The highest Canadian finisher was Alexandre St-Jean who got off to a quick start and finished in 11th place with a time of 1:09.24. The 24 year-old from Quebec City is competing in his first Olympic games after failing to qualify for the Sochi games four years ago. Vincent de Haitre, Cumberland, ON native, finished in 19th place with his time of 1:09.79. De Haitre, who was considered a medal threat in the 1500m, has had a rough go at these Olympic games as he has been suffering from a bruised heel all week. This is a disappointing finish for de Haitre, who finished in 2nd place one year ago on the same ice in Gangneung at last years World Single Distance Championships. Laurent Dubreuil capped of his first Olympic games by finishing in 25th place with a time 1:10.03.

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Results

Kjeld Nuis (NED) – 1:07.95

Havard Lorentzen (NOR) – 1:07.99

Tae-Yun Kim (KOR) – 1:08.22

Joey Mantia (USA) – 1:08.564

Takuro Oda (JPN) – 1:08.568

Kai Verbij (NED) – 1:08.62

Shani Davis (USA) – 1:08.78

Nico Ihle (GER) – 1:08.94

Koen Verweij (NED) – 1:09.14

Mitchell Whitmore (USA) – 1:09.17

Alexandre St-Jean (CAN) – 1:09.24

Min Kyu Cha (KOR) – 1:09.27

Jaewoong Chung (KOR) – 1:09.43

Joel Dufter (GER) – 1:09.47

Haralds Silovs (LAT) – 1:09.50

Mika Poutala (FIN) – 1:09.58

Sebastian Klosinski (POL) – 1:09.59

Marten Liiv (EST) – 1:09.75

Vincent de Haitre (CAN) – 1:09.79

Tsubasa Hasegawa (JPN) – 1:09.83

Konrad Nagy (HUN) – 1:09.92

Daniel Greig (AUS) – 1:09.99

Konrad Niedzweidzki (POL) – 1:10.026

Daichi Yamanaka (JPN) – 1:10.027

Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) – 1:10.03

Tao Yang (CHN) – 1:10.10

Denis Kuzin (KAZ) – 1:10.13

Ignat Golovatsiuk (BLR) – 1:10.14

Stanislav Palkin (KAZ) – 1:10.15

Mirko Giacomo Nenzi (ITA) – 1:10.16

Piotr Michalski (POL) – 1:10.17

Henrik Fagerli Rukke (NOR) - 1:10.25

Fedor Mezentsev (KAZ)  - 1:10.62

Pedro Causil (COL) – 1:10.71

Mathias Voste (BEL) – 1:11.24

Pekka Koskela (FIN) – 1:11.76