BEIJING (Reuters) -Belgian Bart Swings beat rivals in a blistering skate rounding the final corner of the men’s mass start at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday to win his country’s first Winter Games gold medal in 74 years.
The silver medallist from Pyeongchang initially hung back before the race turned into a blistering sprint to the finish line.
Still in second place, Swings skated for his life as he rounded the final corner to overtake the leader and thrust his legs out at the finish line in desperate hopes to be the first to cross it.
He immediately looked up to see the results, and threw his hands up in delight when he saw that he had clinched the first Belgian Winter Games gold in over seven decades, since Micheline Lannoy and Pierre Baugniet won gold in the pairs figure skating competition in 1948.
Chung Jae Won of South Korea claimed silver and compatriot Lee Seung Hoon took bronze.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
