Norway skated to a stunning victory in the men's Olympic team pursuit on Wednesday, taking gold ahead of hosts South Korea as defending champions the Netherlands wilted.

Beaten by Norway in the semi-finals, the Dutch fought off New Zealand for bronze as the Norwegians put on two immaculate displays of skating to claim their first medal in the event, which was introduced at the 2006 Games in Turin.

Norway's Havard Bokko, Simen Spieler Nilsen and Sverre Lunde Pedersen served notice by setting an Olympic record of 3 minutes 37.08 seconds against Dutchmen Patrick Roest, Sven Kramer and Jan Blokhuijsen in the semi-final, beating the mark the Netherlands set in Sochi by 0.63 seconds.

The final was a thriller, with neither the Koreans, who were fastest in qualifying, nor the Norwegians electing to use a substitute.

Norway shot out off the blocks and held a narrow lead over the first three laps until the Koreans, marshalled by the experienced Lee Seung-hoon racing alongside Chung Jae-won and Kim Min-seok, edged in front on the fourth, sending the decibel levels in the packed area sky high.

The cheers of the Korean fans only seemed to spur the Norwegians on as, heads down and striding smoothly in unison, they began to reel in their opponents with the splits getting closer and closer.

On the fifth lap, Norway got their noses back in front by 0.10 seconds and they went through the last three splits in an identical 13.63 seconds to finish 1.2 seconds ahead of the Koreans and seal their second Olympic speed skating gold of the Games.