By Sakura Murakami
BEIJING (Reuters) – Sweden’s Nils van der Poel crossed the finish line in the men’s 10,000 race at the Beijing Olympics to smash his own world record and scoop his second Beijing gold in a breathtaking finish on Friday.
The 25-year-old sped ahead of rivals in ever-faster laptimes, shaving three seconds off the world record he set in the Netherlands a year ago to cross the finish line in 12 minutes and 30.74 seconds.
Patrick Roest of the Netherlands, who also finished behind van der Poel in the 5,000m, won silver in 12:44.59, while Italian Davide Ghiotto crossed the finish in 12:45.98 to take bronze.
Van der Poel’s gold medal marks the first medal in the event for Sweden in 34 years.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Andrew Cawthorne)
