With all the classical distances and the Team Pursuit events in the books, Long Track Speed Skating at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will conclude with the Mass Start for both genders on Saturday.

Bart Swings (BEL), pictured above, will defend his 2022 Olympic title. In the women's field, retired 2022 champion Irene Schouten (NED) left the field open to a younger generation, but will 35-year-old Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA) be able to complete a hat-trick on home ice after her 3000m and 5000m golds?

King Swings

Together with this season's World Cup Winner Jorrit Bergsma (NED), Swings is the only skater in the current field who was present at the inaugural Mass Start race in the ISU World Cup series on November 25 2011, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Bart Swings will defend his 2022 Olympic title on Saturday © Getty Images

Having won two World Titles, four European Titles and finishing on top of the World Cup ranking five times, the 35-year-old Belgium is the unofficial King of the Mass Start.

Over the past few seasons, Swings has been hampered by injuries, however. At the European Championships last January, Swings was finally able to skate without being held back by an unwilling knee, and he managed to seize his fourth European title anticipating the bunch sprint with an early attack at 700m from the finish line.

"It's a good sign that I can count on these tactics, but I'm still working to finetune a couple of things,” he said.

"The pure top-speed has to improve and my last two corners were not great, but I've still got a couple of weeks to improve."

Swings kept Bart Hoolwerf (NED) and Andrea Giovannini (ITA) at bay in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. Hoolwerf was not selected for the Dutch Olympic squad, but Giovannini is one of Swings' main rivals in Milan. 

Andrea Giovannini (ITA) won gold in the Men's Team Pursuit © Getty Images

The Italian veteran is the reigning World Champion and he won the World Cup Trophy in 2024 and 2025, and he's in the winning mood after seizing the Men's Team Pursuit gold together with Michele Malfatti (ITA) and Davide Ghiotto (ITA).

In the Mass Start, Giovannini will likely lean on team-mate Daniele Di Stefano (ITA) to set him up for the bunch-sprint. 

Jordan Stolz (USA) is another contender. The American already won gold medals in the 1000m and 500m, but missed out on the top spot when he took silver in the 1500m on Thursday.

Jordan Stolz (USA) has won two gold medals in Milan so far © Getty Images

He has only skated the Mass Start twice in the World Cup this season, but his potential in the event became clear when he won the fourth World Cup race in Hamar last December. 

Stolz considers the Mass Start "a toss-up". More than in the classical distances, medal chances depend on how the often-unpredictable bunch-race unfolds.

Among other contenders are 10,000m gold medalist Metoděj Jílek (CZE), Timothy Loubineaud (FRA), Livio Wenger (SUI), Felix Maly (GER) and Chung Jae Won (KOR).

The Numbers: Men's Mass Start

• 2022 Olympic Champion: Bart Swings (BEL)
• Reigning World Champion: Andrea Giovannini (ITA) 
• World Cup Winner: Jorrit Bergsma (NED)
• Number of athletes competing: 29
• Number of delegations represented: 17
• Competition starts at 15:00hrs (semi-finals) and 16:40hrs (final) at Milano Speed Skating Stadium

Lollobrigida eyes third gold

In the women's competition, Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA) hopes to shine one more time on home ice having won the 3000m and the 5000m in Milan. After making the switch from inline to ice in 2012, the Mass Start used to be her signature event, before she learned how to negotiate the classical distances too.

Francesca Lollobrigida will target a third gold in front of a home crowd on Saturday © Getty Images

Lollobrigida won the Mass Start World Cup Trophy in 2014, 2018 and 2022. A third gold medal in Milan would put her level with her predecessor Schouten, who won the 3000m, 5000m and Mass Start events in Beijing. Dutch legend Yvonne van Gennip also won three gold medals at one Games (Calgary 1988), but Lidija Skoblikova (URS) still holds the all-time record with four gold medals at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck (Austria).

Lollobrigida is not the top favorite, however. World Champion Marijke Groenewoud (NED) looks like the woman to beat. Despite disappointing results in the classical distances (8^th in the 3000m, 7^th in the 5000m and 10^th in the 1500m), the Dutchwoman goes into the Mass Start with confidence.

"The Mass Start is completely different,” she said. “Even when my classical distances are not that smooth, I'll always have a chance in the Mass Start." 

Marijke Groenewoud (NED) is the favourite to win Saturday's Mass Start race © Getty Images

This year's World Cup Trophy winner, Mia Manganello (USA), is another medal contender. She skates her last Olympic Games before retirement.

Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais (CAN) are also in the mix, and they too are in a winning mood. Together with Isabelle Weidemann they already retained their Olympic Team Pursuit Title, and individually Maltais won bronze medals in the 3000m and 1500m.

The Numbers: Women's Mass Start

• 2022 Olympic Champion: Irene Schouten (NED)
• Reigning World Champion: Marijke Groenewoud (NED)
• World Cup Winner: Mia Manganello (USA)
• Number of athletes competing: 28
• Number of delegations represented: 16 (+ 2 AIN Athletes)
• Competition starts at 15:50hrs (semi-finals) and 17:15hrs (final) at Milano Speed Skating Stadium