Italy upsets United States for males’s pace skating staff pursuit gold; Canada captures second straight ladies’s title

Italian skaters Davide Ghiotto, Michele Malfattiand Andrea Giovannini downed reigning world champion and world report holder United States within the males’s staff pursuit closing Tuesday, claiming gold for Italy’s first Olympic medal within the occasion since 2006 — the final time the nation hosted the Winter Video games, and the primary time the staff pursuit was contested on the Olympic stage.

Casey Dawson, Emery Lehmanand Ethan Cepuran crossed the end line a staggering 4.51 seconds behind Italy for silver.

The 2 international locations had been neck and neck by the primary half of Tuesday’s closing, each trios racing in near-perfect unity. Halfway by the fifth lap, the Individuals started to collapse, tensing and dropping out of sync. Dawson, Lehman, and Cepuran misplaced over two seconds off their tempo by the ultimate three laps of the race.

“I assumed we skated an excellent first half of the race. We had been proper the place we would have liked to be,” Cepuran stated after the race. “Typically, you blow up a bit of bit, however we went on the market, and we tried. We tried actually onerous.”

Italy additionally got here out on high when the 2 international locations went head-to-head within the quarterfinals two days earlier, however solely by 0.97 seconds.

With its third victory of the 2026 Video games, the host nation now leads the gold medal rely in pace skating. The Dutch, longtime giants within the sport, have two.