Winter Olympics 2026 speed skating: Czechia’s Metoděj Jílek unleashes eight-lap kick to claim Olympic men’s 10,000m crown
Czechia’s Metoděj Jílek timed his push to perfection at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium on Friday (13 February), winning men’s 10,000m gold — and with it his second medal of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
In the longest event on the speed skating programme, Jílek embraced the burn and delivered a decisive late surge from the penultimate pairing. With eight laps remaining, he began chipping away at Vladimir Semirunniy’s leading time of 12:39.08, set roughly 20 minutes earlier.
The 19-year-old, who won 5,000m silver earlier this week, quickly matched the pace of Poland’s Semirunniy and then moved clear, firing off multiple sub-30-second laps as a packed house roared him on. For a moment it looked as though he might threaten the Olympic record of 12:30.74, set by Nils van der Poel at Beijing 2022, but he crossed the line just outside it in 12:33.43 — a time that would stand as the winner.
Semirunniy took silver in 12:39.08, with the Netherlands’ Jorrit Bergsma claiming bronze in 12:40.48.
Winter Olympics 2026 speed skating: Men’s 10,000m medal winners
