‘Genius at work!’ Jorien ter Mors sets OR to clinch 1,000m speed skating gold

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 14/02/2018 at 11:54 GMT

The Netherlands’ Jorien ter Mors set a sublime Olympic record to take gold in the women’s 1,000m speed skating, with Japan taking silver and bronze.

Ter Mors was pushed by American Brittany Bowe in the 12th pairing, though the latter slipped down to fourth as world record holder Nao Kodaira came second ahead of compatriot Miho Takagi.

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A blistering time of 1:13.56 saw Ter Mors finish 0.26secs ahead of Kodaira and 0.42secs clear of Takagi, while Bowe was a further 0.38secs from claiming bronze.

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Jorin ter Mors

Image credit: Getty Images

Ter Mors, who won gold in the 1,500m at Sochi four years ago, did not defend that title in South Korea after failing to qualify in the distance due to a persistent knee injury.

She showed no signs of any lingering after-effects as she zoomed around the track in the shorter race to shave 0.27 seconds of the Olympic record.

Dutch skaters have now topped the podium in all five speed skating events held so far, and they increased their tally to nine medals from an available 15.

The Dutch claimed 23 of 36 medals at the Sochi Games, and their dominance only seems to increase with each race in South Korea.

Kodaira, who came into the race as the heavy favourite after winning three of four World Cup events in a stellar season last year that included breaking the world record, will be disappointed by her second-placed finish.

But the two medals claimed by the Japanese skaters, including a second of the Games for Takagi after her silver in the 1,500, proved why the country is tipped to become a future speed skating powerhouse.

Additional reporting from Reuters

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