Xandra Velzeboer won her second gold medal of the Milano-Cortina Games in a final with Arianna Fontana, who raced in her 16th Olympic short track final, Courtney Sarault, Kim Gil-li, and Li Gong. The Dutchwoman had already won gold in dominant fashion at the 500m, where she broke two records.
In a scintillating final, Velzeboer took the lead from world no. 1 Sarault with three laps remaining, but was surprised next by Kim Gil-Li. The Korean was overtaken by Velzeboer again, however, as the Dutch ace built a gap and stayed in front of Sarault, who fought but fell short.
Kim Gil-Li won the bronze medal, ahead of Li Gong and Arianna Fontana, who missed out on her 14th Olympic medal.
World no. 2 Hanne Desmet, one of the favourites for gold on the 1000m, was disqualified from the competition early when she took out Kim Gil-Li in the first semifinal, which was won by Velzeboer. Kim was given advancement to the final A following Desmet's penalty.
Arianna Fontana trailed behind the world no. 1 Courtney Sarault in the second semifinal, but made it through ahead of compatriot Elisa Confortola and world no. 5 Choi Min-Jeong, who was penalised after taking out Alena Krylova.
Dutch dominance
Velzeboer's gold medal was the Netherlands' sixth at the Milano-Cortina Games, and the country's fourth in the short track tournament. Velzeboer already won gold at the 500m, whereas Jens van 't Wout claimed both gold medals in the men's tournament at the 1000m and 1500m.
The pair joined Jutta Leerdam and Femke Kok, who won gold medals in the 500m and 1000m in the women's speed skating tournament.
The Netherlands are in third place on the Olympic medal table, behind Italy (8 gold medals) and the leaders, Norway (12).
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