Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong stuns with Olympic gold in 1,500m
In Milan, antoinette rijpma-de jong surprised the field by winning Olympic gold in the 1, 500 metres, posting a time of 1. 54, 09 and finishing 0, 06 seconden ahead of Norway’s Ragne Wiklund.
Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong rode a decisive opening and held on
Rijpma-de Jong, 30, took the lead early with a blistering opening of 25, 26 and built a margin that she managed to protect through laps of 28, 0 and 29, 8; by the start of the final lap her advantage had shrunk to 0, 01 seconde but her closing lap was faster than Wiklund’s and she crossed the line 0, 06 seconden clear. She skated her winning race in the penultimate pair and then watched as the favorite Miho Takagi in the final pair failed to beat 1. 54, 09.
Margins, medals and career milestones
This is Rijpma-de-Jong’s first Olympic title and the sixth Olympic medal of her career in her fourth Winter Games; earlier in these Games she won silver in the team pursuit. Her previous individual Olympic medals include bronze in the 3, 000 metres in 2018 and bronze in the 1, 500 metres in 2022, and she also arrived with a silver and a bronze from the pursuit.
Dutch teammates and the rest of the field
Femke Kok finished fifth in her Olympic debut on the 1, 500 metres, skating 1. 54, 79 alone in the first pair because she had no opponent in that heat. Valérie Maltais of Canada took bronze, and Wiklund had posted 1. 54, 15 in the pair before Rijpma-de-Jong set her target. Marijke Groenewoud clocked 1. 55, 16 for tenth place after earlier disappointments in the 3, 000 and 5, 000 metres at these Games; Groenewoud did win silver with the pursuit team and is scheduled to skate the mass start on Saturday.
With Joy Beune not having qualified for the Olympics, Miho Takagi had been seen as the favorite for the 1, 500 metres after recent World Cup results, but Takagi could not surpass Rijpma-de-Jong’s 1. 54, 09 in the final pair.
The Olympic speed-skating program moves toward its conclusion: the tournament’s final day is Saturday, when the mass start for men and women is on the schedule.
