Canada’s Valerie Maltais secured the silver medal in the women’s 3,000 meters, while Beatrice Lamarche clinched the bronze in the women’s 1,000 at the inaugural speed skating World Cup event on Friday. Maltais achieved a personal best time of 3:56.53. The gold was claimed by Joy Beune of the Netherlands in 3:53.698, with Ragne Wiklund securing the bronze in 3:57.19.
Expressing her satisfaction, Maltais stated, “I’m delighted with my performance and preparation today. I had an excellent summer training, and I had confidence in delivering strong performances. My goal was to kick off the season on a positive note, but one can never be certain of their standing.”
The 35-year-old athlete from La Baie, Que., previously won a team pursuit gold in Olympic-record time at the 2022 Winter Games alongside Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann. She also competed in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 Olympics as a short-track speed skater, securing a silver medal at the Sochi 2014 Games in the 3,000 team relay.
Weidemann, representing Ottawa, finished fifth, while Blondin, also from Ottawa, secured the eighth position in the 3,000 meters on Friday. Laura Hall from Calgary finished in 13th place.
On the other hand, Lamarche achieved her first individual-distance World Cup medal, becoming the first Canadian woman to reach the 1,000 podium since Christine Nesbitt in 2012-13. The 27-year-old from Quebec City completed the race in a personal best time of 1:12.77, just shy of the Canadian record of 1:12.68. Jutta Leerdam (1:12.35) and Femke Kok (1:12.43) from the Netherlands secured the gold and silver medals, respectively.
Following her race, Lamarche expressed her joy, stating, “I was incredibly happy seeing my time and then realizing I secured third place; it was beyond belief.”
The upcoming speed skating World Cup event is scheduled to take place in Calgary next week. Live coverage of the Utah leg of the World Cup circuit will continue throughout the weekend on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. Viewers can find full details on when and how to watch by visiting the provided link.