Francesca Lollobrigida completed a golden double at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games and flew ever deeper into history. Just five days after her magical success in the 3,000 metres, sealed with an Olympic record, the speed skater from Frascati left all her rivals behind once again in the longer 5,000-metre event, a distance in which she holds the world title thanks to her victory at last March’s World Championships in Hamar, Norway. With powerful, flowing strides, the newly-turned 35-year-old from Lazio skated towards legend, becoming the first Italian in the discipline — female or male — ever to win two individual Olympic events. For the Italia Team it was the 15th medal of these Winter Games, the sixth gold (one short of Italy’s Winter Olympic record set at Lillehammer 1994).

Drawn in the sixth and final pairing alongside two-time Olympic champion Martina Sáblíková of the Czech Republic, the Italian veteran once again dominated the field on the ice of the Milano Ice Park. Attacking from the very first lap, Lollobrigida (photo Ferdinando Mezzelani/CONI) delivered a stirring performance and, despite the inevitable physical fatigue in the closing bends, showed the resilience of a champion to clock the fastest time, crossing the line first with a new personal best of 6:46.17.

None of her rivals could respond, with Dutch skater Merel Conijn taking silver at +0.10, Norway’s Ragne Wiklund claiming bronze at +0.17 and Belgium’s Sandrine Tas finishing fourth at +0.30, all separated by mere hundredths of a second from the Italian’s winning time. The victory added a fourth Olympic podium to her already glittering career, following her silver and bronze medals in the 3,000 metres and the mass start at Beijing 2022. (agc)