Another triple: Dutch sweep the board in 500m speed skating sprint

Michel Mulder on Monday became the first Dutchman to win gold in the speed skating 500 metres sprint at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Jan Smeekens took silver by a very narrow margin and Ronald Mulder – Michel’s twin – took bronze. This is the second clean sweep for the Dutch squad. The men took all three medals in the 5,000 metres on Saturday.

In the women’s short-track competition there was disappointment for Oranje after a collision between Dutch skater Sanne van Kerhof and an Italian skater in the 3,000 metres relay.

The incident generated a penalty for the Dutch girls, who are four times European champion, and put them out of the final.

‘I’ve looked at the video and the penalty could as well have gone to the Italians,’ said coach Jeroen Otter. ‘It’s a real shame for the girls.’

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