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| Gold medalist Esmee Visser celebrates on the podium. Photo: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda |
Esmee Visser, skating in
her first Olympics at the age of 21, beat one of the greats of women’s distance
speed skating on Friday, clinching the 5,000 metres gold medal in a time of
6.50.23
‘It is really fantastic, I don’t know what to say,’ Visser said after
her surprise victory.
The Czech Republic’s Martina Sábliková, who took the
title in 2010 and 2014, won silver and Natalia Voronina of Russia the bronze.
Visser, who covered the distance 12 seconds slower at the Dutch championships
in October, is not backed by a commercial team and has spent her time preparing
for the games with junior skaters in Groningen, broadcaster NOS said.
Visser is
only the second Dutch woman to win Olympic gold at the distance. The first was Yvonne van Gennip at the
Calgary Olympics 30 years ago.
The Netherlands has now won gold in six of the
seven speed skating events so far.
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