Speed skater Joey Mantia kicked off his slate of Olympic Winter Games events in Beijing with the men’s 1,500-meter on Tuesday morning.
The race began at 5:30 a.m. ET and the Ocala resident was paired with Japan’s Seitaro Ichinohe.
Mantia got off to a fast start and his pace was only seven-hundredths of a second behind the current leader, the Netherlands’ Kjeld Nuis, at the 300-meter checkpoint.
The next checkpoint came at 700 meters, and Mantia had fallen a full second behind Nuis’ pace. At 1,100 meters, that gap widened to 1.87 seconds.
Mantia crossed the finish line in 6th place with a time of 1:45.26.
After each competitor took to the ice, Nuis’ time of 1:43.21 set an Olympic record and earned him the gold medal.
The silver medal was awarded to another skater representing the Netherlands, Thomas Krol (1:43.55), and Korean skater Mineseok Kim won the bronze medal with a time of 1:44.24.
Mantia still has three additional events remaining in Beijing:
- Men’s team pursuit on Sunday, February 13 at 8 a.m. ET
- Men’s team pursuit on Tuesday, February 15 at 1:30 a.m. ET
- Men’s mass start on Saturday, February 19 at 2 a.m. ET
To view a complete schedule of upcoming events, along with results, visit the 2022 Olympic Winter Games website.