S Korean Lee wins men's 10,000m speed skating gold

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-24 09:19

VANCOUVER: A simple crossover mistake in the men's 10,000 meters speed skating that stopped Sven Kramer of the Netherlands from becoming the double winner at the Olympic Winter Games here on Tuesday, but helped Lee Seung-Hoon of South Korea to be the luckiest champion in Vancouver.

S Korean Lee wins men's 10,000m speed skating gold

Gold medallist Lee Seung-hoon of South Korea celebrates during the flower cerermony for the men's 10,000 metres speed skating race at the Richmond Olympic Oval during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, February 23, 2010. Lee scored a shock victory after favourite and world champion Sven Kramer of the Netherlands was disqualified for a lane violation. [Agencies]

Lee, a surprised silver medalist in the 5,000m 10 days ago at the Richmond Olympic Oval, renewed the 10,000m Olympic record in a time of 12 minutes and 58.55 seconds, slicing 0.37 seconds of the previous mark set by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands on February 22, 2002.

The treble world champion and record holder Kramer clocked a faster time than Lee, however, he was disqualified for incorrect changing of lanes with 8 laps remaining of the event.

Ivan Skobrev of Russia and Bob de Jong of the Netherlands came to second and third in 13:02.07 and 13:06.73 respectively after Kramer's disqualification.