Speed skater Mo Tae-bum finishes 12th in men's 1,000 meters

South Korean speed skater Mo Tae-bum finished 12th in the men's 1,000 meters at the Sochi Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

Mo finished the race in 1:09.37, coming up well short of winning his second straight Olympic medal in the distance. At the 2010 Vancouver Games, Mo won the silver medal behind Shani Davis of the United States.

This time, Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands won the gold in 1:08.39, followed by Denny Morrison of Canada and Michel Mulder of the Netherlands.

Mo, who bagged two medals in Vancouver, leaves Sochi without one. On Monday, he finished fourth in the 500ｍ, unable to defend his gold as three Dutch skaters swept the podium, and failed to redeem himself on Wednesday in the 1,000ｍ.

He skated in the 19th and penultimate pair, starting in the outer lane next to Brian Hansen of the U.S. Mo covered his first 200ｍ in 16.42 seconds, 0.22 second faster than Groothuis' lap time, but the South Korean gradually lost steam and finished way out of contention.

Davis crashed out of his title defense, ending in only eighth place at 1:09.12.

Two more South Koreans competed in the 1,000ｍ. Lee Kyou-hyuk, in his sixth and final Olympics, finished in 21st place in 1:10.049, and Kim Tae-yun was nine spots below in 1:10.81. (Yonhap)