Francesca Lollobrigida bettered her silver medal run in 2022 with a gold medal performance in front of a home crowd.
MILAN, Italy — Francesca Lollobrigida set an Olympic Record to give Italy its first women’s gold medal in long-track speed skating.
Lollobrigida won the gold medal in the 3000-meter women’s speed skating event on Saturday in the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. She won the race with a time of 3:54:28, breaking the previous record of 3:56.93 held by Irene Schouten of the Netherlands.
Norway’s Ragne Wiklund won the silver medal with a time of 3:56.54. Canada’s Valérie Maltais won the bronze medal.
Lollobrigida bettered her silver medal run in the 2022 Winter Olympics when she finished second to Schouten.
Lollobrigida is the only Italian woman to win an Olympic medal in long-track speed skating. She also won a bronze medal in the mass start speed skating event in 2022. The nation has four medals in long track speed skating in men’s events.
In short track speed skating, however, Italy’s Ariana Fontana has dominated the sport for two decades. Fontana won two gold medals, four silver medals, and five bronze medals in short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics from 2006 to 2022. Her 11 medals are the most of any athlete in the sport. Fontana is competing once again in 2026.