Femke Kok beats Jutta Leerdam in speedskating's 500 and adds an Olympic title to her world record

MILAN (AP) — Everyone expected Femke Kok to win the 500-meter speedskating gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Even her Dutch teammate, Jutta Leerdam, the woman who beat Kok in the 1,000. Even the defending champion, Erin Jackson.

And, well, Kok did, too. Embracing those expectations rather than fighting them, Kok extended her two-year-plus unbeaten streak at her sport's shortest distance Sunday, adding a gold medal and the Olympic record to her world mark, beating Jackson head-to-head in the final heat and relegating Leerdam to the silver.

“I really wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it,” said Kok, who reversed the result from the 1,000 meters on Monday, when she got the silver. “I knew for myself the only thing that mattered was gold.”

Kok powered through the final turn of the 500 and easily pulled away from Jackson, finishing in 36.49 seconds — a whopping 0.66 seconds ahead of teammate Leerdam.

“We’re a really small country,” Kok said about the Netherlands and its population of under 20 million, “but we can do speedskating.”

Miho Takagi of Japan was third in 37.27, picking up her second bronze of these Winter Games and ninth career Olympic medal. Her totals: two golds, four silvers and three bronzes.

Jackson was fifth in 37.32, four years after her 500 triumph for the United States made her the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics in any sport.

“Femke has been the person to chase for the past few years. She’s just been amazing,” Jackson said. “If I have the perfect race, I could probably give her a run for her money.”

But Jackson didn't have a perfect race: Sure, her start was terrific, but she stumbled a bit at one point, losing crucial time.

“I was coming closer and closer and closer,” Kok said, “and then I knew, ‘OK, I’m going fast.’”

As she usually does in the 500, an event she last lost in February 2024. When Kok crossed the line Sunday, she threw her arms overhead to the delight of the many, many Dutch spectators, then skated a little more before covering her face with both hands.

That was quite a contrast to Leerdam’s reaction after she temporarily took the lead in the 12th of 15 heats.

She got off to something of a slugging start and was behind Takagi’s pace after 100 meters. While Leerdam did manage to better that time, she let out a big exhale afterward and didn’t look particularly pleased.

“She deserves it, for sure. She’s super good in the 500,” Leerdam said about Kok. “Silver in the 500 is such a win for me. I already felt complete after the win in the 1,000 — and now I have this one.”

Kok prevented Leerdam from becoming just the third female speedskater to win the 500 and 1,000 at the same Olympics.

“We pushed each other the last couple of years to a higher level,” Kok said. “She's doing her own thing; I'm doing my own thing. We have a lot of respect for each other. She’s doing it her way; I’m doing it my way.”

Also Sunday, Italy beat the U.S. head-to-head by nearly a second in the men’s team pursuit quarterfinals but both advanced because they turned in the two fastest overall times. The Italian trio of Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti finished in 3 minutes, 38.40 seconds, and the U.S. squad of Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman clocked 3:39.37.

In Tuesday’s semifinals, Italy will meet the Netherlands, and the Americans — who left the Beijing Games with the bronze and set the event’s world record in November — go up against China. The final also will be contested that day.

Two-time defending Olympic champion Norway finished with only the sixth-best time of the eight quarterfinalists Sunday and was eliminated.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Snoop Dog watches the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Jake Paul of the U.S. screams as his fiancée Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands celebrates with her silver medal on the podium of the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Fifth placed Erin Jackson of the U.S. catches her breath after competing in the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Femke Kok of the Netherlands, center and gold medal celebrates with Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands, left and silver medal, and Miho Takagi of Japan, right and bronze medal, on the podium of the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Miho Takagi of Japan celebrates winning the bronze medal in the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Femke Kok of the Netherlands celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Gold medallist Femke Kok of the Netherlands competes against Erin Jackson of the U.S., rear, in the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Femke Kok of the Netherlands celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Femke Kok of the Netherlands, left, celebrates winning a gold medal with silver medallist Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands, right, in the women's 500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A Ukrainian drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia’s Black Sea ports, officials said Sunday, ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war.

Two people were wounded in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, according to regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev.

Meanwhile, falling debris from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials said, causing disruption to the power and water supply.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

The attacks came ahead of another round of U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, just before the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested there were still questions remaining over future security guarantees for his country. Zelenskyy also questioned how the concept of a free trade zone — proposed by the U.S. — would work in the Donbas region, which Russia insists Kyiv must give up for peace.

He said the Americans want peace as quickly as possible and that the U.S. team wants to sign all the agreements on Ukraine at the same time, whereas Ukraine wants guarantees for the country’s future security signed first.

Zelenskyy’s concerns were echoed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Unless we have real security guarantees on whatever peace agreement is ultimately determined, we are going to be here again, because one of the things we know is that Russia has geared up not just for Ukraine, but to go beyond Ukraine,” she told reporters in Munich on Sunday.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia was hoping to win diplomatically what it had failed to achieve on the battlefield, and was banking on the U.S. to deliver concessions at the negotiating table. But Kallas told the Munich conference Sunday that key Russian demands — including the lifting of sanctions and unfreezing of assets — were decisions for Europe.

“If we want a sustainable peace then we need concessions also from the Russian side,” she said.

Previous U.S.-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war, most recently two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, have failed to resolve difficult issues, such as the future of Ukraine’s Donbas industrial heartland that is largely occupied by Russian forces.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov speaks while inspecting the troops involved in the fighting in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, second right, speaks while inspecting the troops involved in the fighting in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, hands Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a microphone during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the audience during a session at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)