(Text:Su Jiawei He Juan)
At the Beijing Winter Olympics speed skating men's 5,000 meters on the 6th, Dutch player Sven Cramer appeared in the first group.
Soon after Cramer set out, he left his Danish opponent in the same group far behind, and the far-ahead scene recalled his heroic victory at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics four years ago with an Olympic record of 6:09.76. However, the moment he crossed the finish line, the 6:17:04 mark revealed the marks that years and injuries had left on him.
If the Netherlands, which has won 121 Winter Olympic medals in speed skating, is the "kingdom of speed skating", then in the men's 5,000 meters, Cramer is the "king" – his rule has lasted for 12 years. Starting with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Cramer achieved three consecutive Winter Olympics titles.
However, when the Kings finally grew old, throughout 2021, the injury-plagued Cramer did not make it to the podium of any major competitions, and the Beijing Winter Olympics will be his last Winter Olympics.
On the 3rd, Cramer also admitted in an interview about the prospect of defending the title: "If you look at my results this season, you know that this is unrealistic. ”
For the men's 5,000 meters of speed skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics on the 6th, everyone is looking forward to a new "king" to take over Kramer's "scepter". The most optimistic heir is the Swede Nils van der Poul.
Unlike Kramer, who won the silver medal at the Toronto Winter Olympics in his third year of debut, Van der Poul, who debuted in 2013, only finished 14th at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
After the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Van der Poul even left the ice rink and rested for two years. During this time, he served in the military and participated in ultra-marathons as a runner.
But in 2020, he returned to the ice rink. In the words of his coach, "he's become more motivated".
A year later, in Kramer's hometown of Heerenveen in the Netherlands, Van der Poul won the world championship in 12 minutes 32.95 seconds at the Speed Skating World Championships, setting a new world record and showing the world the strongest succession posture.
Two months ago in Salt Lake City, USA, Van der Poul once again won the championship with a new world record, and this time the event was the speed skating men's 5,000 meters.
In the match on the 6th, as opposed to Cramer, van der Poule appeared in the last group of the final.
There were 10 groups of players in the final, and while many were waiting for Van der Poul to create glory, another Dutch player who appeared in group 5, Patrick Rost, broke the Olympic record held by Kramer with a time of 6:09.31 and temporarily finished first. Rost's stunning performance seems to be an oath that the heir of the "king" can still only be in the "speed skating kingdom".
As groups of players finished, Rost's record was never surpassed. Finally, at the end of the game, the highly anticipated Van der Poul stood on the ice track.
With a starting shot, Van der Poul took off smoothly. In the first half, he alternated with Belgian Balte Swains in the same group, but after entering the final 2,000 meters, Van de Poul gradually threw Swains away.
However, judging by the results shown, he is always behind Rost. On the final lap, van der Poul was still 0.99 seconds behind Rost. Amid the coach's loud encouragement and prompts, van der Poul picked up the pace and sprinted with all his might. Under the breathless gaze of everyone, Van der Poul crossed the finish line, and the big screen showed the performance: 6 minutes 08 seconds 84, and the Olympic record was refreshed again!
After the game, Van der Poul said excitedly: "I didn't think I would perform so well at the Winter Olympics. I'm really happy to get that result. ”
Source: Reference News Network