"Even before the final pairing of the women's 3,000m speed skating had finished, two-year-old Tommaso was being hurried towards the middle of the track, where his mother had just broken the Olympic record and was on the verge of winning gold on her 35th birthday. When the final pairing of Joy Beune and Isabelle Weidemann had failed to beat Francesca Lollobrigida's phenomenal time, the Italian sprinted through the bowels of the stadium to fetch her son."
"There were cheers every time one of the splits of the following skaters was red slower than the Italian with the fancied duo of Norway's Ragne Wiklund (silver) and the Netherlands' Marijke Groenewoud falling short. Beune and Weidemann did not even come close and Lollobrigida was in tears before they crossed the line. This medal means a lot, but also a demonstration the fact of not giving up, to start a family, to become a mother and to come back to race, said Lollobrigida."
Two-year-old Tommaso joined his mother on the ice as Francesca Lollobrigida broke the Olympic record and won gold in the women's 3,000m on her 35th birthday. Lollobrigida finished in 54.28sec, lowering Irene Schouten's 2022 record by two and a half seconds. Joy Beune and Isabelle Weidemann failed to surpass Lollobrigida's time, leaving Ragne Wiklund to claim silver and Valerie Maltais to take bronze. Lollobrigida described the medal as proof of persistence, balancing motherhood and elite competition. Earlier in the day, Franjo von Allmen delivered a dramatic performance in the men's downhill for Switzerland.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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