Beijing, China, February 7, 2022: Japanese speed skater Miho Takagi won the fifth Olympic medal of her illustrious career when finishing second in the women’s 1500 metres at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Monday.
The "Ice Ribbon" is the only new venue in Beijing constructed for the Winter Olympics – but it was a familiar name on the top of the podium.
The Netherlands’ Ireen Wust, 35, won her sixth Olympic gold medal - and 12th medal in all - in an Olympic record time of 1 minute, 53.28 seconds, ahead of Takagi who clocked 1:53.72 – just 0.44 seconds behind. Takagi skated in the last pair and came agonizingly close to beating Wust’s time.
Another Dutch flyer, Antoinette de Jong, won the bronze medal with a time of 1:54.82, with another Japanese racer, Ayano Sato, in fourth in 1:54.92.
Takagi, Japan’s team captain in Beijing, had won one gold medal (in women’s team pursuit over six laps at PyeongChang 2018), two silver and one bronze in her previous two appearances at the Winter Olympics. Her second-place finish in Beijing was the same result as PyeongChang 2018 in the women’s 1500m – silver.
Takagi finished sixth in the women’s 3000 metres on Saturday and admitted she needed to change her mindset after that race.
“In the 3000 metres, from the outset I was not as aggressive as I could have been,” said Takagi, the 1500m world record-holder with 1:49.83.
“I had to have a very strong mindset coming into this race and change my mindset, and I had a very strong feeling to go for the 1500m. In these past two days I had many thoughts in my head that weren’t so clear, and many different feelings, but as the race approached, I was able to motivate myself and change my mindset.”