10,000 metres, Men

After his impressive win in the 5,000 m, Nils van der Poel had stirred up controversy in the speed skating world. Following a publication of an article about Dutch scientists conferring and perhaps influencing the ice maker for the National Speed Skating Oval, the Swedish skater had staged a press conference in which he accused the Dutch of trying to manipulate the sport. All parties – including ice maker Mark Messer (CAN) – denied any actual manipulation, and the race got underway without any formal protests or other impact.

As in the 5,000 m, Patrick Roest was the first favorite on the ice. Although his personal best of 12:35 had come at a similar rink, conditions and form forced Roest to a slightly slower schedule, which saw him end up at 12:44.59. That time was enough to survive the next two pairs, including the second Dutch skater, 2014 champion Jorrit Bergsma, who ended in 12:48.94.

Nils van der Poel seemed unimpressed by these times. As in the 5,000 m, he went off on a very steady schedule, recording a slowest lap of 30.38 (lap three) and speeding up to a final lap of 28.60. With these lap times, he handsomely defeated Roest again, but also bettered his own world record, which he had set at the 2021 World Championships. Behind the Swede, his pair mate Davide Ghiotto became the surprise of the race. After tagging along Van der Poel for a few laps, he settled into a pace that brought him to 12:45.98, enough for a bronze medal – the second in a row for Italy after Nicola Tumolero in 2018.

As he had already hinted at earlier, van der Poel announced his retirement from the sport after his second gold, although he hinted that he had tried to retire twice before and had failed. Remarkably, he also published a website that detailed his training methods as well as his training schedule since 2019.