| Lee Seung-hoon celebrates after winning the men's Olympic mass start speed skating at the Gangneung Oval in PyeongChang Saturday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
| / Yonhap |
| Lee, center, stands with Bart Swings of Belgium, left, and Koen Verweij of the Netherlands on the podium during the medal ceremony. / Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
Lee Seung-hoon won gold in the new men's mass start speed skating at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Saturday, bringing South Korea its first and only gold medal in the final night of the speed skating event.
In the women's event, Kim Bo-reum took silver following a bullying scandal this week that involved her in the team pursuit.
Lee became the inaugural champion in the men's mass start, clocking 7 minutes, 43.97 seconds at the Gangneung Oval.
He started to speed up in the 13th lap and advanced into the top five among 16 contestants.
He outmatched his competitors going into the final 16th lap and made a last-minute spurt to cross the finish line first.
Bart Swings of Belgium won the silver and Koen Verweij of the Netherlands took the bronze.
The veteran speed skater previously competed in three others events ― 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and team pursuit ― and skated a total of 37,400 meters at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Meanwhile, Kim skated at the tail end of the 16-woman pack but picked up speed in the final lap to pass others before finishing the race in second with a time of 8:32.99. seconds.
Nana Takagi of Japan skated in 8:32.87 seconds to win gold.
She was accused of bullying and shaming her compatriot Noh Sun-young in the women's team pursuit and also blaming Noh for the team's poor performance.
"I have nothing to say other than that I am sorry," Kim told reporters after the mass start.