By Pearl Josephine Nazare
MILAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Francesca Lollobrigida powered to victory in the women's 3,000 metres speed skating on Saturday, bringing Italy its first gold medal of the Milano Cortina Winter Games and ending the Netherlands' run of three consecutive Olympic titles in the discipline.
Norway's Ragne Wiklund and Canada's Valerie Maltais joined her on the podium as the speed skating programme got underway at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
Lollobrigida clocked three minutes and 54.28
seconds to finish 2.26 seconds ahead of Wiklund.
Skating in her fourth Olympics, Lollobrigida produced an inspired performance to secure her first gold medal, adding to the 3,000m silver and mass start bronze she won at Beijing in 2022.
Celebrating her 35th birthday, she carried the weight of home expectations and lived up to them.
Her victory ended a formidable Dutch legacy in the 3,000m. The Netherlands famously swept the podium at PyeongChang 2018, and Irene Schouten won gold at Beijing 2022 before retiring.
In Milan, Marijke Groenewoud and Joy Beune were again seen as leading Dutch contenders to extend that dominance, as was Wiklund - but Lollobrigida had other ideas.
The Netherlands remains the sport's powerhouse, with a record 48 Olympic gold medals - well clear of the U.S. (30) and Norway (28). Lollobrigida's victory was Italy's third Olympic gold in speed skating.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Milan, editing by Ed Osmond)
