The Dutch love their speedskating, and expect to sparkle in the sport at every Olympics. But thus far in the Games, the Dutch men had won silvers and bronzes, but no golds. (The women had been much better, winning three sprint races.)
But in the final event on Saturday, the mass start, when all the skaters are racing on the ice at once, a veteran stepped forward to save the Dutch men’s Olympics. Jorrit Bergsma, a gold medalist back in 2014, is now 40. But he rolled back the years to win gold.
Bergsma broke away along with a Danish skater, Viktor Hald Thorup, and the field just could not chase them down. And when it came down to the finish, Bergsma had a lot more than Thorup, and he won another gold, 12 years after his first. Jordan Stolz, the American who had already won two golds and a silver in Italy, didn’t make the podium.
The Dutch women had won the three sprint races with three different athletes. But an Italian, Francesca Lollobrigida, took the gold in the longer events. In the women’s mass sprint, there was no breakaway, and it was almost anyone’s race to the very end.
Marijke Groenewoud made her move with 400 meters to go and had enough to make it to the finish first. Yes, another gold for the Netherlands. At 27, it was her first Olympic gold. Ivanie Blondin of Canada was second, and the veteran American Mia Kilburg, 36, won a bronze to go with one from 2018.
Victor Mather, who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news.
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