Van der Poel sets skating record
Nils van der Poel of Sweden set a world record in the 10,000 meters to win his second title at the world single distances speedskating championships at Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Van der Poel’s winning time of 12:32.95 shaved nearly a second off the record set a year ago by Graeme Fish of Canada at the Utah Olympic Oval.
Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands, the 2014 Olympic 10,000-meter champion, was second
nearly 13 seconds behind Van der Poel. Russian skater Alexander Rumyantsev was third. Van der Poel’s victory came after he won the 5,000 on Thursday. In other news:
• Hermann Maier. Bode Miller. Vincent Kriechmayr.
A feat previously achieved only by two legends of men’s Alpine skiing was matched by Austrian skier Kriechmayr at the world championships.
Kriechmayr added downhill gold to the super-G title he won three days ago to complete the so-called speed double.
Fellow Austrian Maier had done the same in 1999, American standout Miller six years later.
Kriechmayr edged Andreas Sander of Germany to the gold by one-hundredth of a second, with 2017 world champion Beat Feuz finishing 0.18 behind for the bronze.