MILAN – Speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida won the women’s 3,000 meters in Olympic-record time on Saturday, giving host Italy the first gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games.
Lollobrigida’s fans stood up and roared for her when she competed on her 35th birthday, with Lollobrigida finishing in 3 minutes, 54.28 seconds, more than two seconds ahead of runner-up Ragne Wiklund of Norway.
Valerie Maltais of Canada finished third.
Lollobrigida is from Frascati, a hill town just outside Rome famous for its white wines, and her great aunt was the late Gina Lollobrigida, a star actress of the 1950s and ’60s.
It was the fourth Olympics for Francesca Lollobrigida, mother of a 2-year-old son, and her first gold — in fact, the first for a woman from her country in speedskating. She won two medals in Beijing four years ago: a silver in the 3,000 and a bronze in the mass start.
As expected, she was greeted with a big cheer during her warm first introduction, and Lollobrigida responded with a big smile and a big wave, raising both hands, before covering her chest with her hands.
Racing with the Maltese, Lollobrigida fell behind at the first checkpoint. But the Italian continued to hold on to the lead and, perhaps emboldened by the loud support of her countrymen in the seats, charged ahead on the final lap, arms swinging behind her.
How fast was she? Her time on the ice Saturday was not only much better than anyone else’s, but it was also more than 2 1/2 seconds faster than the Olympic mark set by Irene Schouten when she claimed 3,000 gold at the 2022 Beijing Games.
There were four more skaters left after Lollobrigida was done, and while she waited to find out what would happen, she really didn’t want to watch much, repeatedly covering her eyes with her hands.
