MILAN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- American sensation Jordan Stolz took the gold medal with a new Olympic record of one minute 6.28 seconds in the men's 1,000m speed skating at Milan-Cortina 2026 on Wednesday, while China's Ning Zhongyan claimed bronze for his first Olympic medal.
21-year-old Stolz broke the previous Olympic mark of 1:07.18 set by Dutch skater Gerard van Velde at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games - before he was born - 0.5 seconds ahead of silver medalist Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands. The two skaters, skating in the 14th pair, posted the fastest times of the day.
Ning clocked 1:07.34 to secure bronze, while skating in the 12th pair.
Earlier in the 11th pair, China's Lian Ziwen collided with the Netherlands' Joep Wennemars in the lane-change zone. Under speed skating rules, the inner lane skater must avoid contact during lane changes. Lian, who was in the inner lane, was disqualified following the incident, which caused a brief delay.
The incident did not affect Ning's performance, as he went on to claim China's first medal in speed skating and ice sports at these Games.
Wennemars was granted a re-skate and eventually finished fifth. ■
