Sven Kramer sets Olympic record in men’s 5,000-meter speedskating

SOCHI, Russia — Sven Kramer of the Netherlands set an Olympic record and defended his title in the men’s 5,000 meters Saturday, winning gold with a time of 6 minutes, 10.76 seconds.

With the king, queen and prime minister of his country cheering him on, the 27-year-old Dutchman flew around the big oval with amazingly consistent laps, all falling with a range of eight-tenths of a second. He easily beat the Olympic mark of 6:14.60 he set while winning gold at Vancouver four years ago.

The powerful Dutch team swept the medals. Jan Blokhuijsen took the silver and Jorrit Bergsma claimed the bronze.

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