OBIHIRO, Japan –
Canada’s women took silver in the team pursuit at the season-opening speed skating World Cup in Obihiro, Japan, on Saturday.
The trio of Isabelle Weidemann, Valerie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin took silver, just 1.22 seconds behind their hometown gold medalists from Japan.
“We felt very powerful and stayed in sync very well,” said Weidemann. “We often had problems at the beginning, myself especially because I’m a little slower, but we managed that today.”
“We’re glad we accomplished this first one and look forward to improving for the next one.”
The Canadians, who competed in the final duo against their Dutch rivals, fought back after a slow start thanks to consistent lap times and completed the distance in 2:59.25.
The Japanese took gold (2:58.03), while the Netherlands took bronze (3:01.29).
The silver medal was Canada’s first on the World Cup stage since 2019 in Nagano. The reigning Olympic champion had previously won eight consecutive World Cup gold medals and four consecutive World Cup titles since the start of the 2020-21 season.
Reaching the podium at this weekend’s World Cup opener was made all the more special as the Canadian team adopted a unique new strategy for the first time in international competition, abandoning the traditional mid-race exchanges and instead opting to lead the group of Maltais let from start to finish.
“We’re pretty excited,” Weidemann said. “It was the first time we tried this new strategy where we don’t interact, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect.
“We were very nervous about trying something new, but we are very happy with the result today.”
A dozen other Canadian skaters were also in action Saturday.
The Canadian men’s team of Connor Howe, David La Rue and Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu finished sixth in their team pursuit with a time of 3:45.29, while Maltais had the best result in the individual distance, finishing tenth in the 1,500 meters (1:57.76).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2023.
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