1,000 metres, Men

It was assumed that the Dutch would dominate this event. At the three World Cups where they had raced, the Dutch had swept the podium, with Thomas Krol capturing two wins, and Hein Otterspeer one. A third Dutchman, Kai Verbij, was the 2019 and 2021 World Champion. The fourth, Kjeld Nuis, was defending champion but had failed at the Dutch Olympic Trials and did not qualify.

The race was held under somewhat tougher ice conditions than the previous races, leading to less impressive times. The first to break the 1:09-barrier was Piotr Michalski, who set 1:08.56 in the fourth pair. His time would remain unbeaten for a long time. Outsiders for a medal such as the two-time World Champion and world record holder Pavel Kulizhnikov or up-and-coming 17-year-old talent Jordan Stolz couldn’t break the Pole’s time. Cornelius Kersten was the first to come close, recording 1:08.79, which would be the ninth fastest time of the day and the best British speed skating result in 58 years. Marten Liiv, Ignat Golovatsiuk and Viktor Mushtakov all hit the 1:08, but with six skaters to go, it was still Michalski in the lead.

The 13th pair saw 1,500 m silver medalist Krol against 2018 silver medalist Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen. The favored Dutchman started on a conservative speed, trailing Michalski’s time at the bell, with the Norwegian close pursuit. With the best final lap of the day, Krol raced to 1:07.92, with Lorentzen half a second behind, both beating the leading time. Race 14 had Otterspeer against the local favorite, Ning Zhongyan. Both were still on Krol’s pace at 600 m but faded in the last lap and fell out of medal contention. That left only the final pair. Reigning world champion Verbij saw Canadian Laurent Dubreuil take off at world record pace. At 600 m, the two-time world bronze medalist was so far ahead that at the final crossing, Verbij had to give way, choosing to stand up and glide out the race rather than hindering the Canadian and risking disqualification.

Dubreuil held sufficient speed to finish in 1:08.32, enough for silver, a great relief after missing the podium in the 500 m. With both his father Robert Dubreuil and his mother Ariane Loignon former Olympic speed skaters, he became the first Olympic speed skating medalist with two Olympian parents.