After four years of hard work following disappointment at his home Games, China's speed skater Ning Zhongyan finally got the monkey off his back on Wednesday by winning his first Olympic medal at Milano-Cortina 2026.

Racing in pair 12, Ning started off strong on the temporarily-built Olympic track at the Fiera Milano exhibition center, kept his pace midway through the distance, and then pushed hard to cross the line in 1 minute and 7.34 seconds.

Jordan Stolz of the United States clocked 1:06.28 to finish first, half a second ahead of Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands, who raced in the same pair 14 with Stolz.

The final standings, however, took an extra 15 minutes to be decided after all the pairs completed the race, due to a restart of the Netherlands skater Joep Wennemars, who was allowed a second chance after a slight collision with Chinese racer Lian Ziwen in pair 11.

Wennemars failed to improve his earlier time of 1:07.58, posting 1:08.46 in overtime to finish fifth, confirming the top-three rankings would remain.

With his career-first Olympic medal secured, Ning, a multiple world championships medal winner, let out his emotion, weeping tears of joy draped in his national flag.

"After the Beijing 2022 Olympics, I struggled for a long while in remorse, regretting that I didn't bring out my best when it mattered the most on home ice," said the 26-year-old, who finished fifth in the 1,000m and seventh in 1,500m at Beijing 2022.

"I spent the past four years working really hard. I left home to join an overseas club to improve my training and learn from the world's best side-by-side, keep on diet, and stayed disciplined. It all paid off today," said Ning, who joined renowned Netherlands coach Johan de Wit's club Team Gold in 2023 to prepare for the 2026 Olympics.

Next up for Ning will be a shot at a second medal in his strongest event, the 1,500m, which be held on Feb 19.

"I will get back to work and prepare for the 1,500m with sheer focus. The 1,500m race is the distance I am best at, so I will go out all to try to achieve the best result I could," said Ning.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn