MILAN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Czech Olympic debutant Metodej Jilek claimed the gold medal in the men's 10,000 meters speed skating at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games on Friday, clocking a time of 12 minutes 33.43 seconds.
The 19-year-old, bronze medalist in the distance at the 2025 World Single Distances Championships, had already made his mark at Milan-Cortina just days earlier, securing silver in the 5,000m on Sunday.
"It feels amazing to be the first male skater for the Czech Republic to win a gold medal. I feel super honored to be another skater who can win medals at the Olympics after Martina Sablikova's retirement," Jilek said.
He also reflected on the long journey behind his Olympic success. "It has been a lot of training and a lot of hard work. Not just this season, but throughout my whole life. A lot of hard work has brought me here."
"I know that I can still improve. I can still up my training volume. There is room for growth, so I would say that this just came naturally," the Czech added.
Poland's Vladimir Semirunniy took the silver medal in 12:39.08, and four-time Olympian Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands, who won gold at Sochi 2014 and silver at PyeongChang 2018 before finishing fourth at Beijing 2022, added a bronze to his medal tally with a time of 12:40.48.
"I also knew that the competition is tough, the young guys are so fast. This feels like a tremendous victory, to still be up there with that medal around my neck," said the 40-year-old Bergsma.
Italy's world record holder Davide Ghiotto ranked sixth, 13.29 seconds behind the winner.
