2018 Winter Olympics: New Zealand men's speed skaters to race for bronze

The New Zealand men's speed skating group have been beaten on the last lap of the men's group interest elimination rounds in PyeongChang on Wednesday (Thursday morning NZ Time).

In what was a nail-gnawing race for every one of the eight laps, the Kiwis drove by split-seconds for the dominant part, however the South Koreans were keeping something uncommon down for the last lap.

In a momentous exertion, the Koreans conquered New Zealand's half-second cushion and shot their way to the win.

The distinction at last was only 0.72 of a moment, with South Korea over the line in 3 minutes 38.82 seconds. The Kiwis checked in at 3:39.53

Both Norway and the Netherlands posted a quicker time than the South Koreans and New Zealand in the second elimination round, won by Norway, who vanquished the Kiwis in their quarterfinal race, in an Olympic record time of 3:37.08.

New Zealand's trio of Reyon Kay, Shane Dobbin and Peter Michael will now confront the guarding champion Netherlands at 2.11am NZT for the bronze award. The Dutch completed 1.07 seconds quicker than New Zealand in the elimination rounds.