Kramer wins 3rd straight 5,000m gold

GANGNEUNG:AS always, when his rivals suddenly felt that pain in their legs, that burning in their lungs, Sven Kramer kept his mighty, unmatched stride going. “I never saw that wall,” he said.

Kramer won the 5,000m at the Pyeongchang Olympics on Sunday for his third straight gold medal over the distance, becoming the first man to achieve it.

The only thing that really burned inside the Dutch speedskater was ambition, untamed at 31. And even when the gold was surely his, Kramer still shot that skate across the line to ensure he got the Olympic record, too.

“It never gets old. The Games never get old,” he said. It was his fourth career gold medal and eighth overall spread over a dozen years, putting him among the greats of the Winter Games.

Yet there’s little time for celebration, with at least two more golds to chase. And one he previously let slip away in a blunder for the ages — the 10,000.

At the Vancouver Olympics, with gold beckoning, Kramer made a wrong lane change late in a race he was comfortably leading. “It’s not a secret that it’s really important to me. I’ve won a lot at the Olympics, but I’ve lost a lot.”

On Sunday, Kramer also gave the Netherlands its second gold in as many races at the Olympic oval. This time, though, it was no sweep like in the women’s 3,000.

Kramer’s two other teammates finished outside the top six. The Dutch know though they can almost always count on Kramer.

For the other medals, Dutchborn Canadian Ted-jan Bloemen fought back with a desperate drive to the line to kick his skate just in front of Sverre Lunde Pedersen and beat the Norwegian by .0002 seconds for silver.