1,500 metres, Men

This event looked to be a battle between two Dutch skaters, Ard Schenk and Kees Verkerk, who was the 1964 silver medalist, the 1966 and 1967 World All-Around Champion, and the 1967 European Champion. Between them they had won the distance at most of the recent international tournaments, including the 1966 and 1967 World and European Championships. But the 1968 Europeans had been held shortly before the Winter Olympics and that distance was won by Soviet skater Eduard Matusevich. Another contender was the world record holder, Magne Thomassen of Norway, who had recorded 2:02.5 in Davos only 11 days previously.

Schenk and Matusevich were the first favorites off, together in the second pair, and Schenk posted 2:05.0 for the others to shoot at, while Matusevich trailed in 2:06.1, and would eventually place eighth. Verkerk was in the sixth pair and he was right on pace through 700 metres, and slightly ahead at 1,100. He finished in 2:03.4, which would easily win him the gold medal. Five pairs later, Norway’s Ivar Eriksen came through to tie Schenk in 2:05.0. He was followed by Thomassen, who skated in the 12th pair, and finished in 2:05.1, just outside the medals.

Verkerk had been around since 1963 at an international level and his career would last until 1974, during which he would win the 1966 and 1967 World Championships and the 1967 European Championship. He would finish his career with four Olympic medals, but this would be his only gold. Schenk would soon become the greatest skater in the world, and one of the greatest ever. In 1972 at Sapporo, he would gold medals in all but the 500 metres. During his career he set 18 world records, and won the World Championships consecutively from 1970-72 and the European Championships in 1966 and 1970.