While the men’s 1,000-metre speed skating event was won by American Jordan Stolz in an Olympic record time of 1:06.28 Wednesday, the real story of the race was the controversy and drama that led up to that result.
During the 11th pairing of the event, the Netherlands’ Joep Wennemars and China’s Lian Ziwen were matched up. Following a turn, Ziwen, who was crossing over from the inside lane to the outside one, unfortunately saw his right skate snag a piece of Wennemars’ left one, causing the Dutchman to stumble a bit and, ultimately, ruin his race, finishing fifth in a time of 1:07.58.
Wennemars was, understandably, very upset with what happened and while Ziwen did end up getting disqualified and looked very apologetic for the mishap, the 23-year-old, who was making his Olympic debut and was the reigning world champion, was mostly inconsolable.
With the infraction committed by Ziwen, Wennemars was allowed to re-do his race about 30 minutes later, but looked visibly fatigued and without the same explosion he previously had, finishing that in a time of 1:08.46.
Wennemars’ fellow countryman Jenning de Boo won the silver medal in a time of 1:06.78, while Ziwen’s countryman, Ning Zhongyan, won bronze with a 1:07.34 time.
The sport of speed skating is no stranger to drama during the Olympics.
During the 2022 Games, Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil — who finished eighth during Wednesday’s race — won a silver medal, partially thanks to a quick start from Dubreuil that forced Kai Verbij, the Dutch skater he was paired up with, to slow down and avoid a potential collision.
This is all cold comfort for Wennemars, who will now likely be thinking about what could have been for at least four years.