10,000 metres, Men

This was the one of the few men’s events in 1984 for which there was a favorite and that was Sweden’s Tomas Gustafson. Six days before, Gustafson had won the 5,000 m and he was the world record holder at this distance, having skated 14:23.59 at Medeo in 1982. This time had been beaten in December at Medeo by Igor Malkov. He had shattered the mark and broken the 14-minute barrier with 13:54.81 but it was not recognized as a world record by the ISU. Gustafson had also won the distance at the 1982 and 1984 European Championships and the 1983 World Championships. Gustafson started in the second pair, and set a top mark, finishing in 14:39.95, which looked like it could win the gold medal on the slow Sarajevo ice. Two pairs later, Malkov, who had won the silver medal at 5,000 behind Gustafson, and had won the 5,000 at the 1984 Europeans, started at a very consistent pace. With three laps remaining, he was over a second behind Gustafson’s pace, but he finished more strongly, and posted 14:39.90 to narrowly take the lead. Nobody came close to their times. In the third pair, East German René Schöfisch, had finished in 14:46.91, which would win him the bronze medal, matching the bronze he had won in the 5,000. In 1988, Gustafson would win gold medals at Calgary in both the 5 and 10K. Malkov was the youngest ever Olympic gold medalist at the time, and remains so through 2006, at only 19 years, 8 days on the day of this event.