MILAN, Italy — The moment of the first day of the Winter Olympics belongs to Francesca Lollobrigida.
The Italian long track speedskater won the host nation’s first gold medal at these Games Saturday in a thrilling women’s 3,000-meter race. And on her birthday.
Her time of 3 minutes, 54.28 seconds was an Olympic record and more than two seconds ahead of silver medalist Ragne Wiklund of Norway (3:56.54). Canadian Valérie Maltais took bronze (3:56.93).
Celebrating her 35th birthday, Lollobrigida skated while the largely Italian crowd stood on its feet and roared for its local star. After she won, she ran to greet her 2-year-old son, Tomasso, whom she held wrapped in the Italian flag, a scene that immediately went viral.
Lollobrigida was in the third-to-last pairing and so had to watch four more skaters attempt to knock her off the top spot, including two from the Netherlands, the traditional long track speedskating powerhouse. Wiklund and the Dutch five-time world champion Marijke Groenewoud were next, and when neither passed Lollobrigida, she had clinched a medal.
The final pair was Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann and Dutch great Joy Beune, a five-time world champion. They, too, came up short.
All the while, Lollobrigida struggled to watch as she paced the warm-up area and called out to her family. TV cameras showed Tomasso appearing to impersonate a speedskater’s form shortly before the final pair started.
When Beune hit the finish line short of Lollobrigida’s time, it set off a raucous celebration for the Italians.
Lollobrigida completed her set of Olympic medals with Saturday’s win. She also took home a silver and a bronze in Beijing. (Gabriel Bouys / AFP via Getty Images)
This is Lollobrigida’s fourth Olympics and her first gold medal. Four years ago in Beijing, she won silver in the 3,000 and a bronze in the mass start. She’s also the reigning world champion in the 5,000-meter.
Tomasso was born in 2023, and Lollobrigida returned to competition just six months after his birth, claiming the bronze in the European Championships in the mass start event in 2024. Tomasso was in the crowd for that one, too.
Beune was the Netherlands’ top finisher, in fourth.
American Greta Myers, added as a last-minute alternate, finished 20th in her Olympic debut. The 21-year-old was the only U.S. woman to compete in the event.