Italy's men and 2022 champion Canada's women win the Olympic team pursuit speedskating gold medals

MILAN (AP) — The U.S. men’s team pursuit trio of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran dominated that speedskating event lately. They are the reigning world champions and world record-holders. They won five World Cup titles. They came to the Milan Cortina Olympics in search of just one thing: the gold medal.

They'll leave with the silver, though, because they could not keep up with Italy’s Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti and lost to them twice at these Winter Games, including by 4 1/2 seconds in the final on Tuesday. China took the bronze.

“You can’t just be the best going in,” Lehman said after his last race before retirement. “You have to be the best on the day you compete.”

Giovannini celebrated his country’s first Olympic title in the event since the 2006 Turin Games by mimicking NBA star Steph Curry’s “Night night” gesture.

“The Americans were an inspiration for us, because these last two years, they almost always won. ... We knew we had worked a lot for this race, but the favorites were the Americans,” Giovannini said. “They made us raise our level.”

Canada collected its second consecutive Winter Games title in women's team pursuit when Ivanie Blondin, Valerie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann — the same athletes who won gold four years ago in Beijing — finished in 2 minutes, 55.81 seconds, nearly a full second ahead of runner-up Netherlands. Japan defeated the U.S. for the bronze.

“We promised each other," said Maltais, who got the bronze in the individual 3,000 meters on Feb. 7, “that we’re going to empty the tank.”

Buoyed by raucous cheering from the home crowd at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium, the Italian men clocked 3:39.20. The United States started the final well and led for the early stages.

But the Italians charged ahead over the closing laps, extending their advantage. When it ended, as Giovannini and Co. celebrated, Dawson, Lehman and Cepuran leaned over, hands on knees.

“There’s always going to be bitterness. We came out here to win,” Dawson said. “The last four years, the dream was to get gold at these Games. … This is the last go-round for us three.”

This was was supposed to be, the Americans hoped, the crowning achievement for a trio that set the current world mark in November and took home a bronze from the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Dawson, Lehman and Cepuran are fond of saying that they might not necessarily be the three strongest skaters, but they know they are the best team around, helped by advancements such as being at the forefront of the revolutionary switch to the pushing method and the use of computer technology to study aerodynamics.

They prioritize this event over individual races; indeed, Dawson withdrew from the Olympic 10,000 meters last week to focus on team pursuit.

But the Italians simply were better: The final was a rematch of a quarterfinal won by the Italians on Sunday. The Americans were able to remain in medal contention despite that loss because the four fastest quarterfinal times advanced out of that round and they were still second-best overall.

Still, Giovannini said, that quarterfinal result “helped, a lot, to reduce the American team’s certainty. They were the favorites and the team to beat. Beating them gave us some extra confidence.”

Japan’s Miho Takagi, Ayano Sato and Hana Noake took the women’s bronze by defeating the U.S. trio of Brittany Bowe, Mia Manganello and Giorgia Birkeland in the third-place race.

For Takagi, it is her 10th Olympic medal, including bronzes in the individual 500 meters and 1,000 meters at these Winter Games. Her career totals: two golds, four silvers and four bronzes.

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

Team Italy, center and goal medal, team USA, left and silver medal, and team China celebrate on the podium of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team Italy with Davide Ghiotto, white armband, Andrea Giovannini, red armband, and Michele Malfatti, blue armband, compete to win the gold medal in the final of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Team Canada with Isabelle Weidemann, center, Valerie Maltais, left, and Ivanie BLondin, right, celebrate winning the gold medal in the final of the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team Japan with Momoka Horikawa, Ayano Sato, Miho Takagi, and Hana Noake, celebrate winning the bronze medal in the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Team Canada's Valerie Maltais, left, and Ivanie Blondin, right, celebrate winning gold in the final of the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team Canada with Ivanie Blondin, white armband, Valerie Maltais, red armband, Isabelle Weidemann, yellow armband, celebrate winning the gold medal in the final of the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team Italy with Davide Ghiotto, white armband, Andrea Giovannini, red armband, and Michele Malfatti, blue armband, celebrate winning the gold medal in the final of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team USA celebrate winning the silver medal in the final of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Team Italy with Michele Malfatti, left, Andrea Giovannini, center, and Davide Ghiotto, right, celebrate winning the gold medal in the final of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team USA with Giorgia Birkeland, white armband, Brittany Bowe, red armband, Mia Manganello, yellow armband, competes in the semifinal of the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team Netherlands with Joy Beune, white armband, Marijjke Groenewoud, yellow armband, and Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong, blue armband, celebrates after winning the semifinal of the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Team Italy with Davide Ghiotto, white armband, Andrea Giovannini, red armband, and Michele Malfatti, blue armband, celebrate after winning the semifinal of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team Canada with Ivanie Blondin, white armband, Valerie Maltais, red armband, Isabelle Weidemann, yellow armband, competes in the semifinal of the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Team USA with Ethan Cepuran, white armband, Casey Dawson, red armband, and Emery Lehman, yellow armband, celebrates after winning the semifinal of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia’s parliament on Friday appointed right-wing populist politician Janez Jansa as the new prime minister, in a shift for the small European Union country that was previously run by a liberal government.

Lawmakers backed Jansa in a 51-36 vote in the 90-member assembly. The new prime minister will need to come back to Parliament within the next 15 days for another vote to confirm his future Cabinet.

Jansa's appointment concludes a postelection stalemate in Slovenia after a parliamentary ballot two months ago ended practically in a tie. Former liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob's Freedom Movement won by a thin margin but he was unable to muster a parliamentary majority.

Jansa and his populist Slovenian Democratic Party signed a coalition agreement this week with several right-wing groups. The new government also has the backing of a nonestablishment Truth party that first emerged as an anti-vaccination movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new term in office will be the fourth for the veteran Slovenian politician. Jansa, 67, is an admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump and was a close ally of former populist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was defeated in a landslide election last month.

Jansa in a speech listed the economy, fight against corruption and red tape, and decentralization as key goals of the future government. He has promised to lower taxes for the rich and support private education and healthcare.

Critical of the previous government's alleged “inefficiency," Jansa said the new government will turn Slovenia into “a country of opportunity, prosperity and justice, where each responsible citizen will feel safe and accepted."

Like Orban, Jansa was staunchly anti-immigrant during the huge migration wave to Europe in 2015. Also like Orban, Jansa has faced accusations of clamping down on democratic institutions and press freedoms during a previous term in 2020-2022. This led to protests at the time, and scrutiny from the European Union.

Golob in his speech described Jansa as “the greatest threat to Slovenia’s sovereignty and democracy."

Alleging that Jansa had threatened to arrest him, Golob said Jansa's "idea of democracy is that anyone who dares speak a word against you deserves only the worst.”

Jansa, a supporter of Israel, also has been a stern critic of the Golob government's 2024 recognition of a Palestinian state.

The vote on March 22 was marred by allegations of foreign influence and corruption. The around 2 million people in the Alpine nation are deeply divided between liberals and conservatives.

Janez Jansa, center, addresses the Slovenian Parliament during a session in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, May 22, 2026, before appointing him as prime minister, ending a political deadlock after tight elections in March. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)

Janez Jansa arrives for a session of the Slovenian Parliament in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, May 22, 2026, before appointing him as prime minister, ending a political deadlock after tight elections in March. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)

Janez Jansa addresses the Slovenian Parliament during a session in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, May 22, 2026, before appointing him as prime minister, ending a political deadlock after tight elections in March. (AP Photo/Igor Kupljenik)