Netherlands Sweep 500m Speedskating Podium as Medal Count Shifts at Milano Cortina 2026
Milano, Italy — On Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026 (ET), the women’s 500-meter speedskating final produced an emphatic statement from the Dutch team and reshuffled the medal picture at the Winter Games. Femke Kok exploded to gold with an Olympic-record run, Jutta Leerdam claimed silver, and Japan’s Miho Takagi took bronze. The United States’ defending champion missed the podium, underscoring how quickly fortunes can change late in the program.
Dominant Dutch night and a new Olympic record
Kok’s winning time of 36. 49 seconds lowered the Olympic mark and capped a dominant day for her nation in speedskating. Leerdam, who had already climbed the podium earlier in the Games, posted 37. 15 to secure silver, while Takagi edged into bronze with 37. 27. The result marks another high-water mark in a sport where the Dutch have long set the standard, and it extended their overall medal haul at these Games to double digits.
The gold produced both an individual triumph and a wider strategic payoff for the Netherlands. Depth across their sprint and middle-distance events continues to translate into consistent finishes near the top, pressuring other nations that had designs on prize positions in the final week of competition.
U. S. title defense falls short; Erin Jackson finishes fifth
The defending Olympic champion entered the event with a narrative of resilience after an earlier stumble in the 1, 000 meters, but could not reproduce the magic that crowned her in the previous Games. She posted a 37. 32 to finish fifth, a narrow margin from the podium but a telling gap in a race decided in fractions of a second.
Her path to the Games — including unconventional off-ice experiences that pushed her limits — was part of a broader storyline about conditioning and mental toughness. Even so, speedskating rewards precision and the smallest margins, and this week those margins favored the Dutch and a rising Japanese contender who slipped into bronze.
What this means for the medal count olympics 2026 and the final week
With only about one week remaining in Milano Cortina, each sprint finale has outsized importance for national medal tallies. The Dutch gains in the women’s 500m tighten the leaderboard and apply pressure on traditional winter sport powers that have relied on a broader spread of events to climb the table.
Medal strategists will now pivot toward the remaining speedskating schedule and other marquee events where small improvements can flip the standings. Nations that find podium consistency in the last days can extract disproportionate value from their investment in athletes who peak at precisely the right moment.
For the United States, the outcome is a reminder that past laurels do not guarantee future hardware. The team still has opportunities to close the gap, but the sprint results illuminate how margins in speed disciplines have major implications for final rankings and national prestige at the close of these Winter Games.
The Milano Cortina program now moves into its final stretch, where a handful of events will likely decide the ultimate order on the medal table. Expect the margins to remain razor-thin and for teams to recalibrate quickly after Sunday’s decisive sprint results.
