Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands won the gold medal in women's 500-meter short track speed skating in Milan, Italy, on Thursday, after setting a world record in the semifinals.
The 24-year-old skated the four laps of the track in a blistering 41.609 seconds in the final race to win gold.
Velzeboer took an early lead and maintained a large gap over the remaining four skaters for most of the race.
Italy's Arianna Fontana finished second with a time of 42.294 seconds and Canada's Courtney Sarault finished third with 42.427 seconds.
Velzeboer's win came on the heels of her setting a new world record of 41.399 seconds in the semifinals earlier Thursday.
