Italian speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida secured her second gold medal at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics by winning the 5000m event, narrowly beating her competitors in a closely contested race.
According to the International Skating Union, the 5000m race concluded with extremely tight margins, with the top four skaters finishing within three tenths of a second. Lollobrigida, who had won gold in the 3000m event earlier in the Games on her 35th birthday, completed the 5000m with a final time 0.10 seconds faster than Merel Conijn of the Netherlands, who took silver. Ragne Wiklund of Norway earned the bronze medal, adding to her silver in the 3000m. Belgian skater Sandrine Tas finished in fourth place, just 0.30 seconds behind the winner. (International Skating Union)
Lollobrigida started in the final pairing against Martina Sáblíková from the Czech Republic, who was unwell and unable to challenge strongly in the race. Adjusting her strategy for the longer distance, Lollobrigida focused on maintaining consistent lap times before launching a sprint finish. With one lap remaining, she led Conijn by half a second, but Conijn was rapidly closing the gap. Drawing on her background as a mass start and inline skater, Lollobrigida executed a strong final sprint, benefitting from the support of the home crowd and securing gold with a last lap of 31.8 seconds.
Conijn and Tas, who had posted the two fastest times in the earlier pairs, experienced a range of emotions as they watched the later pairs compete. Conijn expressed mixed feelings of happiness and disappointment, while Tas, who described her effort as the race of her life, narrowly missed out on a podium finish. Similarly, Wiklund was pleased to earn a medal but reflected on the close margins with some regret.
For Martina Sáblíková, the 5000m event served as her Olympic farewell. The Czech skater, a triple Olympic champion with six Olympic appearances, had to withdraw from the 3000m due to illness but chose to compete in the 5000m despite not being fully recovered. Sáblíková finished 11th and described the race as her worst 5000m in terms of performance but also emotionally significant. She plans to retire from competitive speed skating after the World Allround Championships in March 2026.
