Kjeld Nuis still holds top spot in the men’s speed skating 1500m final after two more pairs of skaters have tried and failed to beat his time.

Compatriot Thomas Krol remains second too, with Allan Dahl Johansson of Norway and Connor Howe of Canada the final pair left to skate.

Nuis will be very nervous now...

The speed skating 1500m Olympic record just keeps going in Beijing!

Dutchman Kjeld Nuis beats his compatriot Thomas Krol’s time, which held the record for all of about four minutes, by 0.34 seconds to move into first position in the standings.

Nuis is also the world record holder, having set a time of 1:40:17 in 2019.

The Netherland’s Thomas Krol is making his Olympic debut after being left out of the speed skating squad for the Pyeongchang Games four years ago, and the world champion has put down a very impressive marker in the final of the 1500m event here.

The 29-year-old has set an Olympic record with a time of 1:43:5, beating Maxim Trfimov’s time by almost two seconds.

The other skater in this duo, 20-year-old Peder Kongshaug, goes into the silver medal position less than a second behind Krol.

The men’s 1500m speed skating final is back underway again and the next pair up have set some very impressive times.

Sergei Trofimov has gone fastest of all after posting a time one tenth of a second better than that of Marcel Bosker, while Emery Lehman moves into the bronze medal position as things stand.

Some very fast skaters left to run in the final six pairs, though.

The action at the speed skating track will be back underway for the final seven pairs of racers in the men’s 1500m speed skating final shortly, and there is plenty of other action still to come from Beijing this morning and into early afternoon.

The men’s and women’s free sprint cross-country skiing finals being at around about 12:00, with the women going first, as athletes try their best to qualify in the quarter-finals and semis as we speak.

Italy face Norway in the mixed doubles curling gold medal match just after midday, meanwhile, while the final of the women’s luge is to come at around 13:30.

We’ve had an absolute thriller of an ice hockey match at the Wukesong Sports Centre this morning, and Japan’s women have taken the win over the Czech Republic after coming out on top in a penalty shootout.

The score was level at 2-2 after three periods of play, before Nana Fujimoto saved four Czech penalties to secure a third win from four matches for the Japanese.

They now lead the standings in Group B, two points ahead of the Czechs in second and four ahead of China in third.

Over half of the pairs have raced in the men’s 1500m speed skating final now and the Netherland’s Marcel Bosker is still in the gold medal position with a time of 1:45:42.

Other skaters have been ahead of his time during their attempts but all have tailed away in the final stages, whereas Bosker paced himself early doors and unleashed a superb final burst of speed on the final lap.

There is no a brief pause while the ice is treated, before the final seven pairs race for the medals.

The United States’ Casey Dawson has gone last after his attempt in the 1500m speed skating final, but the fact that he was able to compete at all is quite incredible.

He only landed in Beijing earlier this morning after chaos caused by contracting Covid-19 before he was originally due to depart for China. Dawson had to post four negative test results before being allowed to leave the US, and then had to travel via Paris in order to be able to compete.

A great effort in difficult circumstances.

We’ve had two more pairs since Cornelius Kersten’s pair, but Marcel Bosker remains at the top of the standings thanks to a very strong finish in his run.

Haotian Wang and Alessio Trentini have just set a fast pace in the early part of their duel but tailed off towards the end owing to fatigue.

Kersten’s time is still holding up well and he remains fourth in the standings, with eight pairs left to race.

Cornelius Kersten looks likely to miss out on a medal in the men’s 150m speed skating in Beijing.

The 27-year-old started in the inside lane and showed very strong early pace, but was beaten by Dutch rival Marcel Bosker to the finish line in the end.

Kersten is the first British competitor in this event since Albertville in 1992, and posted a team which has provisionally put him third in the standings, but will likely see him fall further down the order.

There are still 11 pairs left to skate, and with this being a seeded event, the times should continually improve as we progress through the running order.