By Pearl Josephine Nazare MILAN, Feb 19 (Reuters) - China's Ning Zhongyan delivered a sensational performance to win the men's 1,500 metres at the Winter Olympics on Thursday, capturing his and his nation's first speed skating gold at these Games.

China's Ning Zhongyan set an Olympic record on his way to gold in the men's speed skating over 1,500 metres on Thursday, denying United States' Jordan Stolz a hat-trick of individual gold medals at the Milan/Cortina Winter Games.

Fatton was near, or at, the front of the race in all of its stages, including a rigorous uphill climb and a treacherous downhill at the finish. Fatton beat France's Emily Harrop by over two seconds to claim gold in the sprint event.

The U.S. team featured Casey Dawson, Ethan Cepuran and Emery Lehman. Conor McDermott-Mostowy competed for the team in earlier rounds.

Italy upstaged world record-holding Team USA to win gold in the 2026 Winter Olympics men's speed skating team pursuit Tuesday in Milan.

Three-times world champion Femke Kok glided to gold with an Olympic record in the women's speed skating 500 metres on Sunday. The Dutch skater, the world record holder over the short distance, went out last but showed no nerves as she beat the earlier time of compatriot and 1,

Ning skated the race of his life to defeat the American Olympic star and take the gold with a time of 1:41.98. Stolz was racing for his third gold medal of these Olympic Games. The American speedskater got off to a slow start and was skating to catch Ning's time for the rest of his run.