Wüst wins 1,500 for 6th career Olympic gold, 12th medal
BEIJING (AP) — Ireen Wüst added to her haul as the most decorated speedskater in Olympic history with another gold Monday at the Beijing Games.
The 35-year-old Dutch skater defended her title in the 1,500 meters, setting an Olympic record with a time of 1 minute, 53.28 seconds at the Ice Ribbon oval.
Miho Takagi of Japan claimed the silver in 1:53.72, while the bronze went to Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands in 1:54.82.
The mighty Dutch team won its second gold in three speedskating events, setting itself up for another big performance after dominating the last two Winter Games at the oval.
It was another Olympic disappointment for Brittany Bowe. The 33-year-old American again came up short in the quest for her first individual medal, fading badly at the end to finish 10th in 1:55.81.
Wüst just keeps getting stronger. She’s now won 12 medals over her career, including six golds. That makes her the most decorated athlete in the history of speedskating, as well as her country’s most prolific Olympic medalist.
Amazingly, Wüst has medaled in the 1,500 at the last five Olympics. She’s won the gold three times, to go along with a silver and a bronze.
Wüst broke the previous Olympic mark of 1:53.51 set by Jorien ter Mors of the Netherlands at the 2014 Sochi Games.
The 33-year-old Bowe, a former college basketball player and inline champion who is one of three American skaters from Ocala, Florida, has long been a stalwart of the U.S. program.
But the last two Olympics have been a disappointment for the four-time world champion, whose only medal came four years ago when she was part of the bronze-winning squad in the team pursuit.
The 2018 Games were especially painful for Bowe, who had a fourth and two fifths in her individual events, missing out on three medals by a total of less than a second.
After carrying the American flag in the opening ceremony, she wasn’t even close in her first event at the Beijing Games. Bowe finished 2 1/2 seconds behind the winner and nearly a second off the podium.
Bowe still has two more individual events to redeem herself. She also qualified in the 500 and 1,000.
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