Olympics-Short track-Velzeboer wins women 1000 metres for dominant Dutch, Fontana fourth


Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Short Track Speed Skating - Women's 1000m - Finals - Milano Ice Skating Arena, Milan, Italy - February 16, 2026. Xandra Velzeboer of Netherlands celebrates with her national flag after winning gold in the Women's 1000m Finals REUTERS/Claudia Greco

MILAN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Dutch ⁠skater Xandra Velzeboer won the women's short ‌track 1000 metres race on Monday, claiming her second individual gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics and extending ​the Netherlands' dominance of the ⁠competition.

Canada's Courtney Sarault ⁠came second and South Korea's Kim Gil-li took ⁠the bronze. ‌Italy's Arianna Fontana finished fourth, missing out for now on what ⁠would be an Italian record 14th Olympic ​medal.

A tight ‌race saw Sarault and Velzeboer battling for ⁠the lead ​in the early stages, while the veteran Fontana slipped slightly off the pace and was ⁠unable to close the gap ​on Kim for third place.

On Thursday, Velzeboer took the women's 500 metres gold.

She has matched compatriot ⁠Jens van 't Wout who has also claimed two golds in the men's races at these Games.

Velzeboer, 24, also set a world record ​in the 500 metres ⁠competition during the qualifiers on Thursday.

Canada's Sarault won ​the bronze in the 500 ‌metres competition last week, ​when Fontana won the silver.

(Francesca Landini and Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Keith Weir)

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