3,000 metres, Women

Since the 2022 Olympics, both gold medalist Irene Schouten and silver medalist Francesca Lollobrigida had become a mother. While Schouten did so after retiring from the sport, Lollobrigida continued to compete and took her infant son with her in her first season after her return. Performance-wise she had mixed successes: in 2025 she won the World title in the 5,000 m, but especially in the Olympic season she had not shown any top performances. This left the role of favourite to other skaters. Joy Beune of the Netherlands, the 2025 World Champion, had won the first two World Cups of the season. Norway’s Ragne Wiklund, winner of the 2023 WWorld title, had claimed the European title and most recent World Cup, both in impressive times. The fourth World Cup race was won by another Dutch skater Marijke Groenewoud, while Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann (bronze in Beijing) and Valérie Maltais had shown consistent performances, ranking 2nd and 4th in the World Cup standings, won by Wiklund. Dutch skaters had won the last three editions, and four of the last five.

On the day of the race, the 2010 champion and veteran Martina Sáblíková withdrew due to illness, causing a re-draw of the race. Early leader in the race was expected to be Merel Conijn of the Netherlands, a bronze medalist at the most recent World Championships. Her 4:01.65 did not make it to the ice resurfacing break after five pairs: Belgium’s Sandrine Tas, runner-up at the 2026 European Championships, narrowly improved it to 4:01.26. The leading time was again improved by Nadezhda Morozova to 4:01.20, before the favourites took to the ice. In pair 8, Lollobrigida and Maltais took off below Morozova’s pace. Maltais lead until about 2 km, when she could no longer keep up with Lollobrigida’s pace. The Italian crossed the line in 3:54.28, making her the seventh fastest 3,000 m skater in history, and bettering Schouten’s 2022 Olympic Record. Maltais finished in 3:56.93, just a fraction outside her own personal best. This set a high bar for the remaining skaters. Wiklund picked up the challenge and kept on par with Maltais’ times. By the 2,200 m, she still had a 0.02 second lead over Lollobrigida, but she paid for her fast start and faded into 32-second laps, but managed to finish faster than Maltais: 3:56.54. In the final pair, Beune and Weidemann started slower, and never managed to make up the difference, ranking 4th and 5th.

This gave Lollobrigida, celebrating her birthday, an unexpected gold medal, which she celebrated with her family and son present at the rink. Her gold was Italy’s first ever for a female speed skater, and first gold in the sport since the Torino Olympics. Wiklund’s silver was the first Olympic speed skating medal for a Norwegian woman since Bjørg Eva Jensen in 1980. Maltais’ bronze medal was the fifth bronze for a Canadian skater in the 3,000 m, the highest number of any country.