5,000 metres, Men

After losing the 2006 Olympic gold to Chad Hedrick, Sven Kramer had lost only a single 5,000 m. In a World Cup race in late 2007, Torino bronze medallist Enrico Fabris had beaten him in world record time, only to see Kramer regain the mark a week later. As the three-time World Champion, world record holder and current World Cup leader, Kramer was the overwhelming favorite for this event.

Kramer was the first of the top skaters to race. On the tough Richmond ice, he narrowly beat the Olympic record dating from 2002, setting 6:14.60. As Kramer had predicted a winning time of 6:11, he was uncertain about this performance getting off the ice. The next race saw team mate Bob de Jong take the stage against Lee Seung-Hun of South Korea. The 2006 champion in the 10,000 m, De Jong was expected to fight for the medals, but instead he was soundly beaten by Lee. The 2008 short track World Champion, Lee had switched to long track when he was no longer selected for the national team. He had seen some top-10 performances during the season, but his 6:16.95 race in Richmond came as an upset.

The thirteenth pair saw Fabris race Ivan Skobrev. The Russian had been training with Fabris under the Italian coach, Maurizio Marchetto, in an effort to strengthen the Italian team. It had given Skobrev his first international medals, while Fabris had won an impressive World Cup victory earlier in the season. Both skaters were ahead of Lee’s splits for most of the race, but had to pay for their fast starts in the end. Skobrev less so than Fabris, finishing in 6:18.05. This meant a bronze medal, as the runner-up of the 2009 Worlds, Håvard Bøkko (Norway) was off-pace for the entire race and placed fourth. Having won the coveted gold medal, Kramer climbed into the stands to meet his family, including father Yep Kramer, a former Olympian, and girlfriend Naomi van As, an Olympic champion in field hockey.

Back in 20th place was Haralds Silovs from Latvia. Not only was he the first male Latvian speed skater to compete in the Olympics since 1936, he also was the first Olympian to compete in both long track and short track speed skating at the same Games. More impressively, he did so on the same day, racing in the 1,500 m at the Pacific Coliseum after completing his 5,000 m at Richmond.