It was the chronicle of a victory foretold. Femke Kok (NED) outclassed the rest of the field by over half a second in the women's 500m on Sunday. With an Olympic Record time of 36.49s, the 25-year-old Dutch sprinter was the only one to stay under 37 seconds. 

The 1000m top-two switched places with Jutta Leerdam (NED) coming second in 37.15s, while Miho Takagi (JPN) repeated her 1000m bronze in 37.27s.

No fear for the last inner 

The women's 500m race was a long build-up to the one race that everybody looked out for: Kok against defending champion Erin Jackson (USA) in the 15^th and final pairing.  

Before that climax, Kaja Ziomek-Nogal (POL) set the fastest opener in 10.27s, only to come short in the full lap, finishing in 37.39s (6^th place). Leerdam posted the fastest full lap in 26.57s, and Takagi combined a fast opener (10.40s) with a solid full lap (26.87). 

None of the above skaters were able to come even close to Kok's 10.18s opener and her 26.31s lap. 

Having started inside lane, Jackson stayed close to her pair-mate in the opener (10.25s), but Kok chased her down on the back-stretch before finishing her race with an immaculate last turn.

Femke Kok (NED) and Erin Jackson (USA) battled against each other in Milan on Sunday © Getty Images

At the back-stretch, Kok knew she was on a good one. 

"Erin was quicker then me (at the start), and just thought: I have to correct that,” Kok said.

"On the back-stretch, I closed in on her so fast that I was already level when we entered the (second) turn. That was when I thought this must be very fast.

"I hadn’t heard the opener because the public was so loud, that really gave me goosebumps."

Negotiating the last inner corner at the highest possible speed is one of the most difficult challenges of sprinting, but Kok went in fearless.

"I have some really fast boys in my team (double Olympic silver medalist Jenning de Boo, NED, for example), and I skate behind them in the turns at even higher speeds, so I'm not afraid of the corners."

Kok was 0.45s faster than the previous Olympic record that Nao Kodaira (JPN) set in PyeongChang eight years ago, and despite the Dutch dominance in speed skating, she won an historic first female gold in the 500m.  

"That's pretty special," Kok reacted. "We've only had very good skaters in the Netherlands, so I'm very happy to be part of that list."

Jackson, who eventually finished fifth in 37.32s said: "I didn't see her (Kok) for about half the race. The part where I did see her, she looked really good.

"She had an awesome performance. For her to do what I did last Olympic cycle, to come in ranked No.1, winning consistently, and then to do it at the Olympics, that's an awesome thing."

Shaking at the start

Dealing with the pressure had been Kok's most difficult challenge after having been undefeated in 23 consecutive races over the course of two years.

"I was shaking at the start and the only thing I could think of was: stand still,” she said.

Yet, Kok had been more nervous before. "The first time I was Dutch Champion, at a 'marathon' race for the pupil category, I was so nervous that my parents wanted to go back home before the race. I learned how to deal with that over the years."

Kok was happy to share the podium with Leerdam again. 

Jutta Leerdam, Femke Kok (NED) and Miho Takagi (JPN) shared the 500m podium on Sunday © Getty Images

"We push each other to the highest level, and we respect each other a lot,“ she added. "The 1000m is Jutta's distance and the 500m is mine. We both know the sacrifices you have to make to get to this level. We can share that feeling because we understand each other."

Leerdam cherishes silver

Leerdam had never thought about 500m gold, not even before the race. She said: "For me, this silver medal was the best I could achieve (in the 500m). Femke is just super good in the 500m.

"(Crossing the line) I never thought that my time would be fast enough. Femke always skates sub-37s races so I just knew she was going to shatter that time.

"After winning gold in the 1000m, I already felt complete and accomplished, but then to add a silver medal is super nice. I'm very happy with that."

Takagi gets confidence from bronze medal

Having skated in the fourth of 15 pairings already, Takagi also knew she did not have a winning time, but she aimed for a podium spot.

"I didn’t think that time would be enough. I thought it was right on the edge."

She used her bronze medal as a confidence boost for what's yet to come. On Tuesday, Takagi will compete in the Team Pursuit and on Friday, she's one of the favorites in the 1500m.

Miho Takagi, one of the favorites for the 1500m, took home bronze in Sunday's 500m race © Getty Images

“Yesterday, I felt my skating wasn’t quite fitting together,” she said. “The fact that I was able to improve from there to this level is very big for me. 

"What I worked on with intention had a positive effect, and I think that will carry into the individual (1500m) event and team pursuit." 

Men's Team Pursuit

Before the women took the ice for their 500m, the men skated the quarter-finals in Team Pursuit on Sunday. Italy (Andrea Giovannini, Michele Malfatti, Davide Ghiotto) surprisingly qualified for the semi-finals first, skating 0.97s faster than favorites USA (Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman, Ethan Cepuran).

"We believed we could beat the United States, but they were the favourites, so it was important for us to finish in the top four and avoid facing them again in the semi-finals,” Malfatti said. “We did that and we're happy."

Dawson was not surprised by the Italian performance: "Since October (2025), we knew that Italy was going to come here and skate. We're world champions, but they're also (2024) world champions, and they're on home ice."

Italy's Davide Ghiotto (L), Michele Malfatti (R) and Andrea Giovannini celebrate after a strong performance in front of a home crowd © Getty Images

Cepuran added: "We've come in with the pressure of being favorites for it. Today isn't a step backwards necessarily, because sometimes you have to take a step back to go two steps forward and mean our goal to come out on Tuesday and win it all."

China's Liu Hanbin, Li Wenhao, and Wu Yu (CHN) surprisingly qualified third, and they'll skate against the USA in the semi-finals.

Italy will meet the Netherlands in the semis. Chris Huizinga, Marcel Bosker, and Stijn van de Bunt set the fourth time in the quarter-finals. National coach Rintje Ritsma may consider a different line-up for Tuesday's races, with 10,000m bronze medalist Jorrit Bergsma (NED) still on the bench.