Dutch skater Kok claims women's 500m speed skating gold in Olympic record at Milan-Cortina

MILAN -- Dutch skater Femke Kok won her first Olympic gold in the women's 500m speed skating on Sunday, setting a new Olympic record of 36.49 seconds.

Her teammate Jutta Leerdam took silver, while Japanese veteran Miho Takagi claimed bronze.

Leerdam, who raced in the 12th pair, initially took the lead with a time of 37.15 seconds, but Kok overtook her in the 15th pair by 0.66 seconds. Takagi finished in 37.27 seconds to secure her ninth Olympic medal.

Kok and Leerdam swapped their positions compared to Monday's 1,000m race, while Takagi also came in third place in that match.

Earlier in the men's team pursuit, Italy posted the fastest time of three minutes 38.40 seconds in the quarterfinals, ahead of the United States, China and the Netherlands. These top four teams advanced to the semifinals, while defending champion Norway finished sixth and was eliminated.

The result represented China's best-ever performance since the event debuted at the Winter Games in 2006. "I feel we performed beyond our usual level and really exceeded ourselves," said Chinese skater Li Wenhao.

The semifinals will be held on Tuesday (Feb 17), which coincides with Chinese New Year.

"I'm looking forward to the semifinals," his teammate Liu Hanbin said. "Competing while people across China are celebrating the Spring Festival is very exciting. I hope we can deliver a wonderful 'gala' on ice and put on a spectacular performance for everyone."