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NAGANO, Japan -- Never count the Norwegians out when it comes to Olympic speed skating -- even when the supposedly invincible Dutch gang up on them.
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KC Boutiette was the fastest United States speed skater, finishing fifth. (AP)
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As in the men's 5,000, all three medalists broke the previous world record, but it was Sondral who went fastest. So much for Norwegian complaints that their rivals from the Netherlands gained an unfair aerodynamic advantage by stitching rubberized stripes to their racing suits for these Olympics.
THE DUTCH FINISHED 2-3-4, with co-favorites Ids Postma and Rintje Ritsma taking silver and bronze, but they won't get their expected gold-medal sweep of the distance events.
Sondral bettered his previous best time in the 1,500 by more than 1½ seconds, circling the M-Wave oval in 1:47.87 on the next-to-last heat of the competition. He broke Ritsma's 2-month-old record of 1:48.88.
As he streaked across the line, the only skater to eclipse 29 seconds on the final 400-meter lap, the 26-year-old Sondral thrust both arms in the air and yelled in delight. He had just given Norway its 24th gold medal and 76th overall medal in men's speed skating -- both more than any other country can claim.
Sondral won silver in the 1,500 at Albertville and was fourth in the event at Lillehammer, both times watching Koss capture the gold medal.
"I think I've been almost everything in skating," Sondral said. ``I've been the big talent, I've been the one who failed, I've been the one who was always second. Now, I'm winning.
"It feels good at the end to have a medal."
KOSS, WHO WON THREE GOLD MEDALS at Lillehammer four years ago, retired after the 1994 Games and is in Nagano as an analyst for Australian television. After the race, he came down from the broadcast booth and gave Sondral a hug under the stands.
Sondral skated in the same heat with Postma, who also managed to break Ritsma's old record despite knocking over two lane markers in the next-to-last turn and then stumbling on the final turn. Postma took silver in 1:48.13.
"It went pretty well until I had a little bit of failure on the last lap," Postma said. "That's why I couldn't be the same as Aadne on the last turn. ... I tried everything but Aadne was better."
Ritsma, the "Flying Dutchman," skated in the last heat looking for the first gold medal of his distinguished career. In the 5,000, the first race of the Olympics, he was the second skater to set a world record, but countryman Gianni Romme broke it again to relegate Ritsma to a silver.
This time, he skated in the final heat knowing the time he had to beat. He couldn't do it, settling for bronze at 1:48.52, his head sinking in disappointment when his time flashed across the scoreboard.
RITSMA, CONSIDERED THE WORLD'S best all-around skater, has been held to silver, bronze and a fourth-place finish in three 1,500 Olympic races. Four years ago, he came to Lillehammer as the world-record holder but was beaten by "Koss the Boss."
Today, Ritsma was dealt another disappointment by another Norwegian.
"That's sport," he said. ``You can win and you can lose. I lost.''
Ten skaters eclipsed Koss' Olympic record of 1:51.29, including KC Boutiette of Tacoma, Wash., in 1:50.04. That was the best 1,500 of his career but was good enough only for a fifth-place Olympic finish as he failed to duplicate the performance of his girlfriend, Jennifer Rodriguez, who was a stunning fourth in the 3,000 on Wednesday.
While both performances boded well for the direction of long-distance skating, the United States is still seeking its first speed skating medal of the Olympics after four of 10 events.
"In Lillehammer, all I could do was laugh," said Boutiette, a former in-line skater who finished 39th in his first Olympics. "Now, I'm proud of myself. ... These guys have a lot more experience than us."
THE 1,500 WORLD RECORD HAD fallen five times over the past year, the clap skate seeming to have more impact at this distance than any other. It was no surprise that it fell again at M-Wave, where the 5,000 was the first race in Olympic history to see all three medalists break the previous world record.
The 1,500 becomes the second, proving that there's not always enough gold to go around at the speed skating oval.
The other Americans were Casey FitzRandolph of Verona, Wis., in 31st, 1:53.26; Cory Carpenter of Brookfield, Wis., in 32nd, 1:53.50; and Dave Tamburrino of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 35th, 1:54.19.
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