Lee Seung-Hoon won a record 15th medal for hosts South Korea after claiming victory in the men's mass start event on the final day of speed skating action at Pyeongchang 2018 ©Getty Images

Lee Seung-Hoon won a record 15th Winter Olympic Games medal for hosts South Korea after claiming victory in the men's mass start event on the final day of speed skating action at Pyeongchang 2018.

The 29-year-old’s gold in an event making its Olympic debut took South Korea’s medal tally above the 14 they won at Vancouver 2010.

He produced a last-minute spurt to finish the 16-lap race ahead of Belgium's Bart Swings and Dutchman Koen Verweij at the Gangneung Oval in front of a crowd that included Ivanka Trump, daughter of the United States President.

Lee now has five Olympic medals to his name, including 10,000m gold from Vancouver 2010 and team pursuit silver from Pyeongchang 2018.

It equals the South Korean record held jointly by short track speed skaters Chun Lee-Kyung, Park Seung-Hi and Lee Ho-Suk.

"As the first mass start, I feel very happy to do this in front of my home crowd and I am honoured to get so much praise with this medal," Lee said.

"In the mass start, it is like a dream to get gold and I can't put it into words."

Swings’ silver was Belgium's sixth medal at the Winter Olympics and first since Nagano 1998 when speed skater Bart Veldkamp took bronze in the men's 5,000m.

"It means a lot," he said.

"My family and my friends have supported me all the time.

"It has been a long Olympic Games, the last race.

"After the semi-final, I felt very easy in the final."

Japan's Nana Takagi won the women's mass start event after a closely-fought race ©Getty Images
Japan's Nana Takagi won the women's mass start event after a closely-fought race ©Getty Images

In the women’s event held earlier in the evening, Japan’s Nana Takagi came out on top to claim her second gold medal of Pyeongchang 2018.

The 25-year-old beat South Korea’s Kim Bo-Reum to victory as The Netherlands’ Irene Schouten finished third.

Takagi was also part of Japan’s victorious team pursuit trio on Wednesday (February 21) and is the first woman from her country to win two gold medals in any sport at a Winter Olympics.

Schouten was leading going into the final corner but misjudged her line slightly and allowed Takagi to pass her on the inside.

"I'm feeling very good," Takagi said.

"I only lost focus on two laps before showing good acceleration.

"Then with 100 metres remaining - go.

"I'm very happy.

"I focus on team pursuit and mass start."

The Netherlands finished top of the speed skating medal standings with seven gold, four silver and five bronze.

Japan ranked second with three gold, two silver and one bronze, while Norway came third with two gold, one silver and one bronze.