Schouten Gives Dutch 1st Speedskating Gold At Olympics, Kilburg Comes Up Short
Feb 5, 2022, 6:43 AM
BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 05: Francesca Lollobrigida of Team Italy and Irene Schouten of Team Netherlands skate during the Women's 3000m on day one of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at National Speed Skating Oval on February 05, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
BEIJING (AP) — Irene Schouten gave the mighty Dutch a gold medal in the first speedskating event of the Beijing Games.
She broke a 20-year-old Olympic record in the women’s 3,000 meters.
Schouten skated in the last of 10 pairs and turned in a blazing final lap to post the winning time of 3 minutes, 56.93 seconds.
The first #SpeedSkating #Gold medal of #Beijing2022 has been won by Irene Schouten of the Netherlands in the women’s 3000m.
An incredible way to start our time on the ice with an Olympic record!#StrongerTogether | @TeamNLtweets | @schoutenirene pic.twitter.com/e5QroICGBc
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 5, 2022
That broke the previous Olympic mark of 3:57.70 set by Germany’s Claudia Pechstein at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Pechstein became the oldest female athlete in Olympic history at 49.
The German finished last out of 20 skaters. Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida grabbed the silver and Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann took bronze.
Mia Kilburg of the United States finished 19th with a 4:17.16 time.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
Just a year after Japan’s summer Olympics, the Games are back for a winter show in Beijing, China. The unusually short gap between Games is due to the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Strict precautions and enforced virus prevention protocol are in place to help keep athletes, coaches and personnel safe.
Beijing is the capital of China, with a population of more than 20 million people and the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympic games. It is one of the largest cities in the world and 15 hours ahead of Mountain Time. There are 13 different venues in and around Beijing that will be used for the Winter Olympics. A total of 109 events will be held in 15 different sports, and there will be a lot of Utah locals competing for medals. Keep up to date with them at our Olympic headquarters.
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