short track speed skating

Italy's Arianna Fontana Defends Her Gold in Women's 500m Short Track

Fontana is the most decorated short track athlete in Olympic history

Italian speed skater Arianna Fontana continued her Olympic legacy in Beijing by defending her gold medal in the women's 500m short track speed skating event.

Fontana beat out The Netherland's Suzanne Schulting by 0.71 seconds to grab her second medal of the 2022 Winter Olympics, finishing with a time of 42.488.

The 31-year-old became the most decorated short track speed skater in Olympic history with a silver medal in the short track mixed team relay event on Saturday, recording her ninth Olympic medal.

The gold in the 500m short track means Fontana hits the double-digit mark in Olympic medals.

She took advantage of a second chance she was given, after wiping out during the first lap of the race that caused the official to rule a restart. The Italian did not let the opportunity to go to the wayside, keeping neck-and-neck with Schulting before pulling ahead in the final two laps.

Schulting grabbed silver in the event while Canada's Kim Boutin earned the bronze.

For the United States, neither Maame Biney or Kristen Santos made it out of the quarterfinals.

Americans Kristen Santos and Maame Biney fail to advanced in the women’s 500m speed skating quarterfinals on Monday.

Biney finished in third in the second quarterfinal of the event with a time of 46.009. Santos was penalized in the fourth quarterfinal as she wiped out and took an opposing skater with her.

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