MILAN, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Italian veteran Francesca Lollobrigida broke the Olympic record in the women's 3,000m speed skating event to win her first Olympic gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Games on Saturday.
Competing in her fourth Winter Olympics, Lollobrigida celebrated her 35th birthday by securing host nation's first gold of the Games with a time of three minutes and 54.28 seconds, 2.65 seconds faster than the previous record set by Irene Schouten of the Netherlands in Beijing four years ago.
Having previously finished fourth in the 5,000m, third in the mass start, and second in the 3,000m at Beijing 2022, Lollobrigida finally broke through by defeating title favorite and reigning world champion Joy Beune of the Netherlands, who finished fourth in 3:58.12.
Ragne Wiklund of Norway took silver in 3:56.54, while Canada's Valerie Maltais claimed bronze with a time of 3:56.93. ■
