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U.S. skater feels 'cheated' after Lee wins bronze in mass start

Published: 21 Feb. 2022, 13:52

From top: Chung Jae-won of Korea, Joey Mantia of the United States, Lee Seung-hoon of Korea and Bart Swings of Belgium cross the finish line at the end of men's mass start finals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

American speed skater Joey Mantia told reporters he "felt cheated" after the men's speed skating mass start race on Saturday, when a photo finish put Korea's Lee Seung-hoon 0.001 seconds ahead to take the bronze medal.

Speaking after the race at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, Mantia said that he felt like Lee had pulled him back as the two raced to cross the line.

“I don’t know how I feel,” Mantia said. “I hope they do something about that call at the end. I felt like I was cheated. Maybe I’m biased about that, but I felt like his hand was on my arm, pulling me back.

"From what I can see from the replay, my foot was in front of his, and then his foot came in front of mine. How did that happen if I’m gaining on him?”

The men's mass start, the final men's speed skating race of the Beijing Olympics, ended with a dramatic photo finish. Bart Swings of Belgium took gold, with Korea's Chung Jae-won crossing the line 0.07 seconds later for silver and Lee following 0.02 seconds later for bronze. Mantia was recorded crossing the line 0.001 seconds after Lee.

Despite Mantia's comments, the call was not reviewed and Lee was awarded the bronze medal.

With the bronze medal, Lee has now medaled at four consecutive Olympics. Lee won the 10,000-meter gold medal and the 5,000-meter silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the men's team pursuit silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the men's mass start gold and team pursuit silver medals at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

The Korean men's speed skating team finish the 2022 Beijing Olympics with four medals: Two silver and two bronze. As well as Chung and Lee, Cha Min-kyu won silver in the men's 500 meters and Kim Min-seok took bronze in the 1,500 meters.

BY JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]