Ning Zhongyan earned bronze in the men's speed skating 1,000 meter event at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Wednesday, clocking a time of 1:07.34 to earn China's third medal at this edition of the Games.

"This performance was close to perfect," Ning said. "In the first 600 meters, I really delivered my best form. Over the last 400 meters, my drop in speed was slightly beyond what I had planned. But I achieved my goal of earning a medal, which is a big boost to my confidence."

The 26-year-old was also pleased with the competition surface.

"The ice today was very good and fast," Ning noted. "Many Olympic athletes broke Olympic records here. This is my best result at low altitude, so I'm very satisfied with today's performance."

The Chinese speed skater's Dutch coach, Johan de Wit, said they were very happy with Ning's first trip to the podium at the Games.

"I was amazed, he did a really good job," concluded de Wit.

Meanwhile, the USA's Jordan Stolz cruised to gold in 1:06.28, beating both silver medalist Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands and the previous Olympic record of 1:07.18 set by another Dutchman, Gerard van Velde, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

"It means a lot to me," said the 21-year-old. "The last one was four years ago. It's every four years that you get the chance to win Olympic gold, so I'm super happy."

Earlier, in the 11th pair, China's Lian Ziwen collided with Joep Wennemars of the Netherlands in the lane-change zone. Under speed skating rules, the athlete in the inner lane must avoid contact during lane changes. As a result, Lian, who was in the inner lane, was disqualified following the incident, which caused a brief delay.

Wennemars was granted a re-skate, eventually finishing fifth.