World champion Nao Kodaira shook off the pressure of the biggest race of her life Sunday to become Japan's first female Olympic speed-skating gold medallist by capturing the 500m title. Coming off a silver-medal 1,000m effort, Kodaira dethroned two-time defending champion Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea to win in an Olympic-record 36.94 seconds with Lee taking silver in 37.33sec, just 0.01sec ahead of third-place Karolina Erbanova of the Czech Republic.

"I was under big pressure. I fought well," Kodaira said. "I was racing for the whole Japanese delegation. I knew I had the attention of all the Japanese people. All I could do is skate the way I was supposed to skate. I'm glad I did what I practiced and prepared."

Kodaira, who has won her past 15 World Cup 500m starts, is only the second speed skater from her homeland to take Olympic gold after Hiroyasu Shimizu in the men's 500m in 1998. It was a same-oval rematch of last year's 500m world championship battle, where Kodaira edged Lee, and after the race, Kodaira shared a victory lap with her long-time rival, displaying their flags together.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018