It took Xandra Velzeboer just four days of Milano Cortina 2026 to confirm her status as a Short Track legend; the 24-year-old winning both the 500m and 1000m Olympic titles to cap a golden Games for the Dutch. 

Add on the fact Velzeboer also set a world record in the 500m and it’s clear this unforgettable series of performances deserves revisiting. 

Velzeboer falls in mixed relay semi-final

Incredibly, Velzeboer’s Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games experience started with disappointment. 

After finishing the ISU Short Track World Tour as the top-ranked mixed relay team, the Netherlands were eying up the opening medal chance of the Games. But a shock fall from Velzeboer in the semi-finals left the favorites watching from the sidelines as Italy secured that memorable first night triumph. 

Failure, however, proved the very best motivation. 

Dutch Lions winning the Mixed Team Realy at the ISU Short Track World Tour in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 2025 @ ISU

Velzeboer sets world and Olympic records in 500m heats

Three ISU World Championship 500m titles in four years, plus victory in three of the four ISU World Tour 2025/26 500m finals, had installed Velzeboer as the undisputed sprint No.1, and she wasted no time proving it. 

Typically smooth through the heats, Velzeboer took it up a notch in the quarter-finals. Facing Italy’s 2018 and 2022 Olympic 500m champion Arianna Fontana, the Dutchwoman powered home in 41.583 seconds, an Olympic record. 

But Velzeboer had only just got started. Less than an hour later, she flew through her semi-final in 41.399 seconds, smashing the world record she herself had set in Salt Lake City in 2022. 

Velzeboer 'on fire' in 500m final

In the mood and with the stage set, no one could stop Velzeboer grabbing her first ever individual Olympic gold medal, not even double defending champion Fontana. The veteran Italian did her best but once her Dutch rival hit the first corner in front the result seemed foretold – with the orange-clad fans in full-throated agreement. 

“Xandra was on fire,” Fontana said simply, after taking silver, the 13th Olympic medal of her extraordinary career. 

For the woman herself, she will never forget 12 February 2026. 

“This is the best day of my life,” Velzeboer said. “It’s amazing. It’s been my goal for the last four years, maybe for my entire life.”

Arianna Fontana (left), Xandra Velzeboer and Courtney Sarault (right) during the medal ceremony after competing in the Women's 500m of Short Track at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics Winter Games in Milan, Italy. © Getty Images

Defying the odds in the 1000m

It turns out Velzeboer did not have long to wait to do it all again. Although, if her success in the 500m was somewhat predictable, her triumph in the 1000m was gloriously unexpected. 

Not only did three high-quality skaters finish the ISU World Tour 2025/26 season ahead of Velzeboer in the 1000m rankings, but one, Belgium’s Hanne Desmet, was also the reigning world champion while another, Courtney Sarault of the USA, had barely lost a race in the discipline for six months. 

None of that bothered Velzeboer, however. Not only was she riding her 500m high, but the Milano Ice Skating Arena had already turned into a Dutch haven, with Jens van ’t Wout having completed his own golden double on nights two and three of Short Track at the Games. 

Velzeboer proves herself in the Olympic 1000m

Once again, the heats proved key for Velzeboer, not by delivering another world record but by showing she could beat the best.

Up against the USA’s 2024 1000m world champion Kristen Santos-Griswold, and the 2023/24 ISU Crystal Globe winner Kim Gilli in the quarter-finals, Velzeboer hit the front early and powered away, knocking out the US star in the process. 

It was a similar story in the semi-finals, with 2025 1000m world champion Desmet left trailing and ultimately penalized. 

“In the heats I skated very easy and fast times, and I was like maybe I can do it in this distance too,” finalist Velzeboer said. 

Xandra Velzeboer celebrates after winning gold in the Women's 1000m Short Track finals at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter games in Milan, Italy. © Getty Images

Velzeboer executes ‘perfect’ 1000m final

One more major hurdle awaited. The recently crowned 2025/26 Crystal Globe champion Sarault lined up in the 1000m final on the back of a 1000m ISU World Tour record that read: 1st-1st-2nd-1st in her previous four races.

So, when the Canadian hit the front early on in the Milano Ice Skating Arena many of the thousands of Dutch may have feared the worst. Crucially, Velzeboer was not one of them. 

While every lap provided drama of the highest quality, as the best of the best jostled for position, Velzeboer never panicked. Not when Fontana surged early, nor when Korea’s Kim maneuvered on to her shoulder and not when Sarault attempted to push the power button. 

Instead, the Dutch skater waited, always in touch and then, with three laps left, she decided it was time. Flying past a startled Sarault, no one had a chance to catch her. Gold number two secured, along with the admiration of her rivals. 

“It’s about who makes the best decisions at the right time, who is the smartest and who is racing the best. So, Xandra had a really great race, and she executed it perfectly,” silver medalist Sarault said. 

“Executed it perfectly” neatly sums up a simply sensational Games for Xandra Velzeboer.