Dutch speed skater Kramer wins 3rd straight Olympic gold

PyeongChang (South Korea) Feb 11 (IANS) Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer on Sunday bagged his third straight Olympic gold medal for the 5 000-metre event here at the PyeongChang Winter Games after striking gold at the Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 Games.

Clocking in at 6:09.76 on Sunday Kramer beat his own Olympic record set four years ago by exactly one second reports Efe.

An eight-time world champion in the 5 000m Kramer now has the distinction of winning three gold medals in the men s event at three consecutive Winter Olympics.

The Dutchman was joined on the podium by Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada and Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway.

Bloemen edged out Pedersen by two hundredths of a second to clinch the silver medal at the Gangneung Oval speed skating arena.

Kramer s first-ever Olympic medal was silver at the Torino 2006 Games where he also won bronze as a member of the team pursuit.

--IANS
sam/bg