Japan’s Takagi Wins 1000m Speedskating Gold, Brittany Bowe Takes Bronze

Feb 17, 2022, 3:45 AM | Updated: 8:02 am

Miho Takagi of Japan has won her fourth speedskating medal of the Beijing Games and the first individual gold of her career with an Olympic-record victory in the women’s 1,000 meters.

The silver went to Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands, while Brittany Bowe of the United States claimed the first individual medal of her career with a bronze.

Takagi added to silver medals in the 500 meters, 1,500 meters and team pursuit at the Beijing Games. She won three medals in Pyeongchang four years ago, taking gold in the team pursuit, silver in the 1,500 and bronze in the 1,000.

Takagi won with a time of 1 minute, 13.19 seconds, easily breaking the previous Olympic record of 1:13.56 set in 2018 by Jorien ter Mors. Ter Mors did not get a chance to defend her title after failing to make the powerful Dutch team.

Leerdam posted a time of 1:13.83 despite dragging her left hand on the ice to stay upright in a turn. Bowe grabbed the bronze in 1:14.61, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Russian skater Angelina Golikova.

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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