Sander Eitrem of Norway adds a speedskating 5,000 meters Olympic gold to his world record

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MILAN (AP) — Norwegian speedskater Sander Eitrem went from, to use his words, “probably one of the underdogs" to “the favorite” in the men's 5,000 meters at the Milan Cortina Olympics by breaking the world record just last month.

That created pressure and nerves and, well, he didn't handle it all that well at the start of his Winter Games debut Sunday, stumbling for his first few strides off the line. Eitrem gathered himself, though, and soon was skating smoothly and powerfully, all the way to a gold medal and an Olympic-record time.

So what happened at the outset?

“Adrenaline just rushed through my body and I felt I was struggling to move. That’s the reason I had a small accident," Eitrem said with a chuckle after clocking 6 minutes, 3.95 seconds, more than 2 1/2 seconds faster than 19-year-old Czech runner-up Metodej Jilek. “For sure, you’re getting stressed.”

Riccardo Lorello, who is from Milan, gave Italy the bronze, a day after speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida won the women's 3,000 meters to give the host nation its first gold of these Olympics in any sport.

Casey Dawson, the American who came in eighth Sunday four years after sitting out the 5,000 in Beijing because he tested positive for COVID-19, could relate to what Eitrem was dealing with.

“It happens,” said Dawson, who had a similar issue in his heat. “On such a big stage, there’s a lot of nerves going into it, and your feet kind of forget what to do the first couple of steps.”

All sorts of bad thoughts begin to creep in.

“Of course, I was afraid. When you do one mistake, it’s easier to do another,” said Eitrem, who turns 24 on Thursday. “For sure, that was in my mind for some laps. But (eventually), you just go into your own bubble and skate.”

He said it took him about 200-300 meters to regroup, and then, he explained, “I was back in it.”

Sure was.

By the 1,400-meter mark, Eitrem had overtaken Jilek — the other skater in his heat — and proceeded to pull away.

“I knew he was the guy to beat today,” Jilek said, “which he proved.”

At a World Cup race in Germany on Jan. 24, Eitrem became the first man in speedskating history to complete the 5,000 in under 6 minutes. He didn’t approach that time on Sunday, but it didn’t matter. He concluded his race by shaking his right fist, then raising it aloft, to celebrate being in first place.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and family arrived in the stands halfway through the day’s competition. Vance mouthed “Oh, wow,” after Eitrem’s time was shown on the video boards at the arena.

There were two more skaters yet to go, but with a few laps left for both of them, Eitrem knew the gold would be his.

“A lot of emotions going through my head,” he said later. “One second, I was crying. And then the next one, I was just enjoying the moment.”

His time was nearly 6 seconds faster than the old Olympic standard.

“So, yeah, the pressure has been pretty high the last couple of days,” Eitrem said. “To manage to pull it off — it’s a good feeling.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics