Italian Speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida Wins Gold At Home On 35th Birthday - Beritaja

It was a very happy day for Francesca Lollobrigida.

Lollobrigida, competing coming connected her 35th birthday, brought location the golden for Team Italy successful the women’s velocity skating 3000m — and group an Olympic grounds successful the process.

The Italian crowd went chaotic arsenic the hometown leader raced to the finish. Lollobrigida fought for her lead aft trailing Team Canada’s Valerie Maltais, who vanished pinch a bronze medal, for about of the race. She overtook her competitor successful the last moments of the neck-and-neck title arsenic her young boy Tommaso watched from the sidelines.

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Lollobrigida is the first Italian female to ever triumph a speedskating golden and the first Italian jock to triumph golden astatine the 2026 Olympics. She had antecedently earned a metallic and bronze badge successful 2022 astatine the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Lollobrigida vanished pinch a clip of 3:54.28, comfortably up of the metallic and bronze badge winners. She vanished much than 2 seconds faster than metallic badge victor Ragne Wiklund of Norway, which is notable successful a athletics wherever competitors decorativeness wrong hundredths of seconds of each other.

The Olympic grounds was antecedently held by Dutch velocity skating fable Irene Schouten astatine 3:56.93, group antecedently astatine the 2022 Beijing Games. Lollobrigida had finished pinch metallic in Beijing. Today, Lollobrigida shaved complete 2 seconds disconnected that time.

The speedskater took clip distant from the sports aft the Beijing Games to person her son. Last week, Lollobrigida shared an Instagram station about her determination to extremity competing to commencement her family, saying that she feels proud of her decisions.

"In the past Olympics I had reached the highest constituent of my profession and the realization that I was successful the champion infinitesimal of my sporting life. Yet I chose to stop."

Lollobrigida had considered retiring up of this year’s Winter Olympics, but came backmost for a last Olympic title successful her location country. On Saturday, she tearfully stood connected the podium during the Italian nationalist anthem, while the location crowd roared successful ceremony of her historical win. Lollobrigida antecedently announced that this would beryllium her final Olympic Games.

The consequence is simply a awesome surprise, pinch speedskating favourite Joy Beune, of the Dutch team, not making it to the podium. Dutch skaters swept the podium in 2018, and this year’s competitors were expected to proceed that trend. The Milan Cortina Games people the first clip a Dutch velocity skater hasn’t vanished pinch a badge successful 16 years.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni celebrated Lollobrigida's historical triumph successful a post connected X, touting her arsenic the pridefulness of Italy.

"Congratulations to Francesca Lollobrigida for an bonzer Olympic gold, the first for Italy, won pinch an Olympic grounds connected her birthday," she wrote. "Italian pride, talent and determination. Bravo!"

Lollobrigida comes from a family of Italian nationalist figures, including her aunt, the Hollywood awesome Gina Lollobrigida and her father, chap skater Maurizio Lollobrigida.

The speedskater was formerly an inline skater for illustration her father, but switched to velocity skating to person the chance of becoming an Olympian. She was inspired by U.S. velocity skater Chad Hendrick, who switched from inline to ice, winning Olympic golden successful the Torino 2006 5000m.