SPEED SKATING: The Dutch have pulled off an early Games coup, taking a clean sweep in the men's 5000m Speed Skating.

Hot favourite for the event, Sven Kramer grabbed the victory in an Olympic record time of 6 minutes and 10.76 seconds.

Kramer, who went in as the defending Olympic Champion and reigning World Champion, got an added honour of claiming the 100th gold medal in men's Olympic speed skating.

"I was the only guy who could lose this race, I really felt that pressure," Kramer said. 

"During my race I just focused on the lap times and the race itself.

"I have won so many 5000m, everyone expected me to win this race. But it felt good when I crossed the finish line, I felt like I skated the best race of my life."

Kramer was joined on the podium by his compatriots Jan Blokhuijsen who took silver in 6:15.71 and Jorrit Bergsma who took bronze in 6:16.66.
For the Dutch, who consider Speed Skating a national obsession, claiming a clean sweep of medals on the first day of competition was a fairytale start to the Games.

Kramer became only the second male skater to win the 5000m event at successive  Winter Olympics, after Tomas Gustafson of Sweden in 1984 and 1988. The only other nation to have also pulled off the feat of a 5000m podium sweep, was Norway at the 1964 Innsbruck Games.