Speed skating-Lollobrigida’s heroics, Stolz’s brilliance and Dutch mastery light up Milano Cortina

MILAN, Feb 22 – Jordan Stolz may have entered the Milano Cortina Games as the headline act in speed skating, but it was Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida who transformed the home oval into a theatre of triumph and national emotion. The great-niece of late film icon Gina Lollobrigida set Italy on a winning path with a spectacular victory in the women’s 3,000 metres on her 35th birthday – the host nation’s first gold of these Winter Olympics. She returned the following week to claim the 5,000m, a result made even more resonant by her rapid comeback after giving birth to her…