Czech speedskater Metodej Jilek wins the Olympic 10,000 gold at age 19 after a silver in the 5,000

Whole life, eh? Not a lot of calendar pages have turned for him so far, yet Jilek entrenched himself as the new, fresh face of the long distances in his sport. On Friday, bothered by a stuffy nose and a scratchy throat, he covered the 25 laps around the 400-meter track — the equivalent of 6.2 miles, a comfortable distance for a car ride, less so for a skate — in 12 minutes, 33.43 seconds to win the first Olympic long track title for a man from his country.

And when it was done, after he beat silver medalist Vladimir Semirunniy of Poland by more than 5 1/2 seconds, Jilek offered something that might not have been intended as a warning to the other competitors but sure sounded like one.

“I know that I can still improve," Jilek said. "I know that I can still up my training volume. I still have room for growth.”

At the other end of the age scale was the bronze medalist, 40-year-old Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands. The gold medalist in the 10,000 way back at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the silver medalist four years later in Pyeongchang, he is the oldest man competing in speedskating in Milan.

“I’m super happy for him,” Jilek said. “He’s such a legend, such a legendary skater. Really happy I can share my first gold podium with him. It's an honor for me.”

Semirunniy, wearing a mirrored visor that reflected the ice, held the early lead. But Jilek moved more than a second ahead of that pace with seven laps remaining, his metronomic strides so consistent, and he nearly lapped the other man in his heat, 2018 Olympic champion Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada.

When Jilek crossed the line, he threw both arms overhead. This result did not come as a surprise to him — nor the others on the ice Friday.

“Last season, we saw him coming, right? ... And this year, it has gone to another level,” said Bloemen, a 39-year-old father of two who said this was the final race of his athletic career. “It’s incredible how fast that has gone. ... To get there at such a young age is nothing but respect. He’s an amazing kid. He’s humble. He approaches it the right way.”

Jilek won the only World Cup 10,000 contested this season. After grabbing the lead in the next-to-last heat on Friday, he needed to see what would happen in the last pairing, which included the man who beat him last weekend in the Olympic 5,000, Sander Eitrem of Norway.

And while he briefly was speedier than Jilek in the early going, Eitrem eventually faded to seventh place, more than 13 seconds slower than the winning time. Davide Ghiotto, the Italian who set the 10,000 world record of 12:25.69 in January 2025 and claimed a bronze in the event at the 2022 Beijing Games, came in sixth Friday.

Hours before the start of the 12-entry race, Casey Dawson withdrew from the 10,000, leaving the event without its only American entrant. U.S. Speedskating said Dawson wanted to focus instead on the team pursuit, which holds quarterfinals on Sunday, and the individual 1,500 meters next Thursday. Dawson finished eighth in the 5,000 meters.

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