In a remarkable finish, Sweden's Nils van der Poel sealed the gold with a last-lap push in the men's 5000m speed skating final -- and he set an Olympic record in the process.
Van der Poel trailed the leading time by over two seconds with just three laps remaining in his 12.5-lap run. The 25-year-old made an improbable run to pull past silver-medalist Patrick Roest, of the Netherlands, just as he crossed the finish line.
To make matters even more dramatic, van der Poel was in the final pairing, so he knew he clinched the gold as soon as he completed his run.
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It was Sweden's second gold of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, tying it with Norway for the most golds thus far. Roest took silver for the Netherlands and Hallgeir Engebråten won bronze for Norway.
Van der Poel finished 14th in the 5000m race at the 2018 Olympics, leading him to take a break from skating from 2018 to 2019. He returned to the sport and won the 5000m and 10000m events at the 2021 World Championship. Now, he's an Olympic gold medalist.
It wasn't as rosy for the Americans in this event. Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran placed 16th and 17th, respectively, out of the 20 skaters.
