Photo: Getty Images
Italian women's speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida had a record-setting performance on her 35th birthday in front of her home country during Day One of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday (February 7).
Lollobrigida won gold for Team Italy in the women's speed skating 3000m event, finishing with a time of 3:54.28, comfortably ahead of the field and breaking the previous record of 3:56.93 set by Dutch speed skating legend Irene Schouten at the 2022 Beijing games. The Italian previously took silver during Schouten's record-setting performance and managed to shave off more than two seconds from her time four years later.
Lollobrigida had contemplated retirement ahead of the 2026 Winter Games and confirmed that the event would be her last.
“It was not that easy to combine being a mom and a skater," Lollobrigida said via NBC News. "So seriously, this one is for myself and the people who believed in me and also the people who were like, ‘Maybe she cannot do it,’ because they gave me the power to prove myself."
Team Italy ended the opening day tied with Japan and Norway with three medals -- with all three earning one gold, one silver and one bronze -- as Giovanni Franzoni took silver and Dominik Paris took bronze in the men's downhill alpine skiing event.
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