MILAN (AP) — Steven Dubois prevented Dutch short track speedskating star Jens van ’t Wout from making it three victories out of three at the Milan Cortina Olympics by winning the men’s 500 meters on Wednesday.
And van ’t Wout’s older brother, Melle van ’t Wout, beat him out for silver.
It is Dubois’ first individual Olympic gold after helping Canada to the relay title in Beijing four years ago. He picked up bronze in the 500 then as well as silver in the 1,500.
“It was the one I was missing,” said Dubois, who also won a silver in the mixed relay at the start of the Milan Cortina Games. “I can’t say it’s never been on my mind, but I never really wanted to give myself hope or make it an objective, so as not to be disappointed, because it’s so hard.
“It’s probably the toughest thing you can achieve, especially in short track, there’s so much happening. It’s difficult to describe it, honestly.”
On his 26th birthday, Melle van ’t Wout earned his first medal by finishing just ahead of his brother — who had won both the previous men’s individual events in Milan.
“We have the same last name … and I just felt invincible. I felt that if he could do it, I could do it,” Melle van ’t Wout said.
Jens van ’t Wout was perhaps distracted by watching his brother skate to his own glory.
“I think around lap three, when I saw Melle go from five to two, I wasn’t even racing anymore, I was just watching him,” the younger van ’t Wout said.
“So I wasn’t even in this race for myself, I was just hoping he would stay on his feet. I really had to tell myself to not yell because I wanted to yell at him to go.”
Fontana’s record
South Korea recovered to edge out Italy to win the women’s 3,000-meter relay on and earn its first short track speedskating gold at the 2026 Olympics.
The team of Minjeong Choi, Gilli Kim, Sukhee Shim and Dohee Noh won in a time of 4 minutes and 4.014 seconds, beating Italy and Canada. Choi was part of the team that won silver in Beijing four years ago.
“For the women’s relay, there are expectations and a sense of responsibility that we have as Koreans,” said Choi, who now has four Olympic gold medals as well as two silver. “Because of that, we wanted to keep up (the good work) this time as well.”
It was nevertheless a 14th Olympic medal for Italy’s Arianna Fontana at her sixth Winter Games to beat fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti’s record for most Olympic medals by an Italian athlete — a mark that has stood since 1960.
“It’s something incredible,” said Fontana, who was already the most decorated short track speedskater of all time. “I still haven’t found the right words to describe this moment, everything I’m feeling.
“I’m trying to enjoy it all, stay in the moment, enjoy this medal with the girls and then maybe tomorrow when I wake up, I’ll realize everything.”
There was disappointment for the Netherlands as Michelle Velzeboer — the sister of double Olympic champion Xandra Velzeboer — fell with 16 laps remaining. South Korea was slowed down by the crash but there was enough distance left for the team to recover.
Then Kim lived up to her nickname of “Lambor-Gilli” — after the famous Italian sports car because of her speed — and burst past Fontana with the finish line in sight.
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