Kjeld Nuis Wins 1000m Speedskating Gold Medal at 2018 Winter Olympics

Kjeld Nuis blazed to victory in the men's 1,000-metre speedskating final and took gold for the Netherlands at the 2018 Winter Olympics on Friday by four-hundredths of a second. 

A field of 36 skaters took to the ice for the final, but the best was saved for last as Nuis poked over the line in a winning time of one minute, 7.95 seconds.

Havard Lorentzen of Norway and Kim Tae Yun of South Korea clinched silver and bronze medals, respectively, but Lorentzen's winning time pitched him above the competition.

Here's a look at the updated medal table after Friday's 1,000-metre result:

The Asian nations quickly took control of proceedings as China's Yang Tao skated an early fastest time, followed by Japan's Tsubasa Hasegawa and home favourite Cha Min Kyu.

Cha already picked up silver in the men's 500 metres and beat the previous fastest time by more than half a second with a superb entry of one minute, 9.27 seconds, despite being sapped of all energy near the climax.

South Korean Chung Jaewoong joined his compatriot on the virtual podium approaching the final's midway point and moved into second, with skating partner, Sebastian Klosinski of Poland, up to third, per ISU Speed Skating:

Mitchell Whitmore of the United States picked back up after the interval and zipped into the lead by a tenth of a second with an effort of one minute, 9.17 seconds.

The Americans briefly had the lead stripped from their grasp by German Nico Ihle, but Whitmore's team-mate Joey Mantia followed his example by becoming the second athlete to break the one minute, nine-second mark to move into the lead.

The lead returned to South Korea thanks to Kim finishing in one minute, 8.23 seconds, more than three tenths of a second faster than the previous best, but he lasted only a few minutes at the head of the field.

Lorentzen started steady and was on track to match Kim's time but looked more at ease entering the final stretch and blazed into the lead, per Korea-based reporter David Volodzko:

This final was always billed as a likely head-to-head between Lorentzen and Nuis, the former having won gold in the shorter-distance 500 metres, with the latter already clinching gold in the longer 1,500 metres.

And it was Nuis' stamina that appeared to give him the edge. He looked capable of beating Lorentzen's time throughout his run, but some indecision around the final lane switch with Finland's Mika Poutala put his run in slight doubt.

Coming from the outside, however, Nuis had priority in making his way back to the inner track, and CBC heralded a narrow victory, bringing the Netherlands men their third speedskating gold in Pyeongchang:

Both Nuis and Lorentzen end their Games with two individual medals apiece.

Hosts South Korea will be disappointed not to have won a gold in any speedskating event with only the mass start left to go, but Kim's performance gives them their second bronze and their fourth speedskating medal overall.