Milan, 14 February 2026 (dpa/MIA) — Teenager Metodej Jilek became the first male Czech speed skater to claim an Olympic gold medal with a stunning run to 10,000 metres gold on Friday, and more than twice his age Dutchman Jorrit Bergsma also made the podium.

Jilek, 19, clocked 12 minutes 33.43 seconds to get gold after 5,000 metres silver. Once the gold was confirmed he posed proudly with living women's legend Martina Sablikova, the only other gold medallist from the country.

"It was amazing she was here too. She's such a legend as well. It's amazing to see her cheer for me, support me. She even supported me with almost my first steps on the ice, so it's amazing," Jelik said.

Jilek was third in the world championship race last year and set a junior world record over the distance in December for his first of now three overall World Cup wins to announce himself on the scene.

Vladimir Semirunniy, a Russia-born athlete who left the country after criticizing the Ukraine war and now competes for Poland, had originally set the pace but ended up in the silver medal position, 5.65 seconds back.

Bergsma added a bronze at age 40 to his glittering career after gold in 2014 and silver in 2018 for a full medal set, 7.05 seconds behind Jilek.

Semirunniy was the first of the three to compete, with Bergsma next and Jilek in the second last pair and knowing what he had to do to go first.

"I feel incredible, this gold medal represents all the training I've been doing for years. Everything I've been working towards. It's amazing," Jelik said.

"I knew even before I came to the Olympics that I could do really well in the 10k, that I could win it. It was just a matter of doing the lap times. I've done thousands of these lap times throughout the summer so I knew what it feels like, what I have to do.

"It was just about dialling it in."

Semirunniy spoke of "the hardest race of my life on that 10K. I started in the third pair, and from my side I just did what I could in the race."

Bergsma named another medal in the dusk of his career "super special.

"The past few years, I didn't quite make it to the podium at the big events. But I knew that on a good day, I would be able to do it," he said.

"I also knew that the competition is tough, the young guys are so damn fast. This feels like a tremendous victory, to still be up there with that medal around my neck.

"It's super special to be competing against such a good generation of talents. They're all super nice, I have a lot of respect for them."

Norwegian 5,000m winner Sander Eitrem tried to attack Jilek's time in the final pair but started to fade at the halfway mark to finish seventh.

World champion and world record holder Davide Ghiotto suffered another disappointment in front of an Italian home crowd when he had to settle for sixth, after also missing the 5,000m medals in fourth place.