MILAN (AP) — Everyone expected Femke Kok to win the 500-meter speedskating gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Even her Dutch teammate, Jutta Leerdamthe woman who beat Kok in the 1,000. Even the defending champion, Erin Jackson.
And, well, Kok did, too. Embracing those expectations rather than fighting them, Kok extended her two-year-plus unbeaten streak at her sport’s shortest distance Sunday, adding a gold medal and the Olympic record to her world mark, beating Jackson head-to-head in the final heat and relegating Leerdam to the silver.
“I really wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it,” said Kok, who reversed the result from the 1,000 meters on Monday, when she got the silver. “I knew for myself the only thing that mattered was gold.”
Kok powered through the final turn of the 500 and easily pulled away from Jackson, finishing in 36.49 seconds — a whopping 0.66 seconds ahead of teammate Leerdam.
“We’re a really small country,” Kok said about the Netherlands and its population of under 20 million, “but we can do speedskating.”
Miho Takagi of Japan was third in 37.27, picking up her second bronze of these Winter Games and ninth career Olympic medal. Her totals: two golds, four silvers and three bronzes.
Jackson was fifth in 37.32, four years after her 500 triumph for the United States made her the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics in any sport.
“Femke has been the person to chase for the past few years. She’s just been amazing,” Jackson said. “If I had the perfect race, I could probably give her a run for her money.”
But Jackson didn’t have a perfect race: Sure, her start was terrific, but she stumbled a bit at one point, losing crucial time.
“I was coming closer and closer and closer,” Kok said, “and then I knew, ‘OK, I’m going fast.’”
As she usually does in the 500, an event she last lost in February 2024. When Kok crossed the line Sunday, she threw her arms overhead to the delight of the many, many Dutch spectators, then skated a little more before covering her face with both hands.
That was quite a contrast to Leerdam’s reaction after she temporarily took the lead in the 12th of 15 heats.
She got off to something of a slugging start and was behind Takagi’s pace after 100 meters. While Leerdam did manage to better that time, she let out a big exhale afterward and didn’t look particularly pleased.
“She deserves it, for sure. She’s super good in the 500,” Leerdam said about Kok. “Silver in the 500 is such a win for me. I already felt complete after the win in the 1,000 — and now I have this one.”
Kok prevented Leerdam from becoming just the third female speedskater to win the 500 and 1,000 at the same Olympics.
“We pushed each other the last couple of years to a higher level,” Kok said. “She’s doing her own thing; I’m doing my own thing. We have a lot of respect for each other. She’s doing it her way; I’m doing it my way.”
Also Sunday, Italy beat the US head-to-head by nearly a second in the men’s team pursuit quarterfinals but both advanced because they turned in the two fastest overall times. The Italian trio of Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti finished in 3 minutes, 38.40 seconds, and the US squad of Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman clocked 3:39.37.
In Tuesday’s semifinals, Italy will meet the Netherlands, and the Americans — who left the Beijing Games with the bronze and set the event’s world record in November — go up against China. The final will also be contested that day.
Two-time defending Olympic champion Norway finished with only the sixth-best time of the eight quarterfinalists Sunday and was eliminated.
