MILAN — The wall of sound coming from the large contingent of orange-clad Dutch fans just kept growing for speedskater Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong at the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Friday.
When she was introduced before her heat in the 1,500 meters. When the arena's video boards showed her ahead of the pace set by the previous leader. And, most ear-splittingly, when Rijpma-de Jong crossed the line and the number “1” appeared by her name to signify she’d moved into first place.
Soon, those roars from thousands of Rijpma-de Jong's closest friends returned, because the last two skaters failed to surpass her time of 1 minute, 54.9 seconds — making her first Olympic gold, and sixth career medal overall, a certainty.
“That’s the feeling that you love the most,” Rijpma-de Jong said. “That’s the feeling when you skate in (the Netherlands). … I am so happy that so many people came to cheer us to the finish line. It was so loud. And it feels so good.”
She was just 0.06 seconds faster than silver medalist Ragne Wiklund of Norway. Valerie Maltais of Canada took the bronze, 0.31 behind Rijpma-de Jong.
“It was really close,” the champion said, “but it was enough — and that’s what’s important.”
Wiklund skated in the 13th of 15 heats, one before Rijpma-de Jong. With a lap to go for the eventual winner, Wiklund said, she thought: “Maybe I do have a shot.”
But all she could do was watch as Rijpma-de Jong surpassed her time.
“She has been performing so, so well for so many years,” Wiklund said. "She knows what she’s doing."
Each medalist in the 1,500 will leave the Milano Speed Skating Stadium with multiple prizes. Rijpma-de Jong already had a silver from team pursuit; Wiklund had a silver in the 3,000 and bronze in the 5,000; Maltais had a gold in team pursuit and bronze in 3,000.
In all, 2023 1,500 world champion Rijpma-de Jong's Olympic haul now includes one gold, two silvers and three bronzes.
Missing from the field was Dutch star Joy Beune, who won all four 1,500 World Cup races she entered this season but surprisingly didn’t qualify for the distance at her country’s Olympic trials in December, sparking a debate over the way Netherlands selects its speedskating team for the Games.
But the Dutch women still got the gold at this distance, to go with wins by Femke Kok in the 500 and Jutta Leerdam in the 1,000.
American Brittany Bowe, who raced head-to-head against Rijpma-de Jong in the 14th of 15 heats, wound up fourth Friday — the same spot she was in the 1,000 meters and team pursuit in Milan.
Bowe, who turns 38 on Tuesday and had said beforehand this would be her final Olympics, has two Winter Games bronzes: from the 1,000 in 2022 and team pursuit in 2018.
Bowe got engaged during these Olympics to U.S. women's hockey captain Hilary Knight, who scored as her team won a gold medal by beating Canada 2-1 in overtime on Thursday.
“Speedskating has shaped me into the person I am, so it's so sad,” Bowe said about retiring, “but it's also so great that I'm able to finish on my own terms because a lot of athletes don’t have that opportunity.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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