Lorentzen breaks Olympic record to take 500m speed skating gold

PyeongChang: Norway's Havard Lorentzen broke an Olympic record to take gold in the men's 500m speed skating at the PyeongChang Winter Games on Monday.

Lorentzen's time of 34.41 seconds beat the previous record, set by Casey Fitzrandolph in Salt Lake City in 2002, by just 0.01 seconds, reports Efe.

Local favourite Cha Min Kyu followed in second, just 0.01 seconds behind Lorentzen, while China's Gao Tingyu came in third place with a time of 34.65.

Having dominated most other speed skating events at these Games, the Netherlands' participants in the men's 500m will be disappointed by failing to book a place on the podium, with the highest-placed Dutch skater being Ronald Mulder in seventh.