MILAN — Dutch speedskater Femke Kok added a gold medal and the Olympic file within the 500 meters to her world mark, beating defending champion Erin Jackson head-to-head within the ultimate warmth Sunday on the Milan Cortina Games and relegating 1,000 winner to Jutta Leerdam to the silver.
Kok powered by means of the ultimate flip and simply pulled away from Jackson, ending in 36.49 seconds — a whopping 0.66 seconds forward of teammate Leerdam, who defeated her in the 1,000 meters Monday.
Miho Takagi of Japan was third in 37.27, choosing up her second bronze of those Winter Video games and ninth profession Olympic medal. Her totals: two golds, 4 silvers and three bronzes.
Jackson was fifth in 37.32, 4 years after her 500 triumph for the US made her the primary Black lady to win a person gold medal at a Winter Olympics in any sport.
When Kok crossed the road, she threw her arms overhead to the delight of the numerous, many Dutch spectators, then skated just a little extra earlier than protecting her face with each fingers.
That was fairly a distinction to Leerdam’s response after she quickly took the lead within the twelfth of 15 heats.
She received off to one thing of a slugging begin and was behind Takagi’s tempo after 100 meters. Whereas she did handle to raised that point, she let loose an enormous exhale afterward and didn’t look significantly happy.
Kok prevented Leerdam from changing into simply the third feminine speedskater to win the five hundred and 1,000 on the identical Olympics.
Additionally Sunday, Italy beat the U.S. head-to-head by almost a second within the men’s team pursuit quarterfinals however each superior as a result of they turned within the two quickest total instances. The Italian trio of Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti completed in 3 minutes, 38.40 seconds, and the U.S. squad of Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman clocked 3:39.37.
In Tuesday’s semifinals, Italy will meet the Netherlands, and the Individuals — who left the Beijing Video games with the bronze and set the occasion’s world file in November — go up towards China. The ultimate additionally shall be contested that day.
Two-time defending Olympic champion Norway completed with solely the sixth-best time of the eight quarterfinalists Sunday and was eradicated.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
