Rijpma-de Jong wins women's 1,500m gold at Milan-Cortina Winter Games (updated)

Source: Xinhua Editor: huaxia

Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong of the Netherlands celebrates after the speed skating women's 1500m event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan, Italy, Feb. 20, 2026. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

MILAN, Feb. (Xinhua) -- Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong of the Netherlands finally landed her first Olympic gold medal in her fourth Winter Games as she claimed the title of the women's 1,500 meters speed skating here on Friday.

Having reaped three bronzes and one silver in PyeongChang and Beijing, the 30-year-old Dutch skater clocked one minute and 54.09 seconds for the victory, edging Ragne Wiklund of Norway by 0.06 seconds.

"It feels so incredible, it's so nice to be standing here. This medal means everything to me," said Rijpma-de Jong. "I already had (Olympic) silver and bronze medals, but Olympic gold was the one still missing. I'm so proud I did it. It can't get any better. It's insane."

"Doing it in the 1,500m, not even my best distance, is crazy. It's surreal," she added.

Gold medalist Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (L) of the Netherlands hugs silver medalist Ragne Wiklund of Norway. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)

Wiklund, who had collected a silver in the 3,000m and a bronze in the 5,000m, took her third medal at these Games, with the bronze going to Valerie Maltais of Canada in 1:54.40.

Wiklund was content with her results in Milan.

"I am super proud, and very satisfied. I was dreaming of one medal and leaving with three is really cool," she said.

Japanese Miho Takagi, the silver medalist in this event at the Beijing Winter Games four years ago, missed out on her 11th Olympic medal after finishing sixth with a time of 1:54.865.

"There are parts where I have no regrets. When I look at it calmly, I can think, 'I worked really hard, '" said Takagi. "There were many moments when it would have been easy to give up, but I did not. In that sense, I feel I did well to get this far."