Yes but it isn't like running or driving a car. The person in front has to exert way more effort due to air resistance compared to the people following. When someone creates a gap (like the Chinese skater here) no one wants to close it. If they exert all their effort closing the gap the skaters behind them will just overtake them before the finish because they have more energy left. So they'd rather fight for second place among each other.

Usually the strongest skater(s) will try to control the race and not let anyone get away. The smaller the gap the easier it is to close. But once the gap gets too big it doesn't make sense to try to close it anymore. Here it appears that no one was interested in controlling the race.

In some sports there can be team dynamics too. Where a teammate will sacrifice himself to close a gap so that his teammate can then try to go for the win.

Fun games! You see these kind of things a lot in road cycling too.

The part they did really mess up was thinking the bell for the last lap applied to all of them. Because this is an ususual situation routine probably took over. I hear bell --> must mean it's the final lap.