Valérie Maltais of Canada celebrates winning a bronze medal on the podium of the women's 3000m speed skating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan on Saturday.Christophe Ena/The Associated Press
Long track speed skater Valérie Maltais secured Canada’s first medal of the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Saturday, winning bronze in the women’s 3000-metre race at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
It’s the same event that gave Canada its first medal at the last Winter Olympics in Beijing. In 2022, Maltais’s teammate Isabelle Weidemann – who placed fifth in Saturday’s race – also took home the bronze.
Speaking to reporters after the race, Maltais held her medal and said she was still processing what just happened. “I think that will sink in a little bit more later. When I think about it – it’s so, so much work. So much effort.”
Saturday’s bronze is actually Maltais’s third Olympic medal – she won a silver as part of the 3000m relay team at the 2014 Sochi Games and gold with women’s team pursuit in Beijing in 2022 – however it’s her first individual podium finish. What is especially extraordinary about Maltais is that the 35-year-old is one of only a handful of athletes in the world – and the first Canadian – to have won medals in both long and short track skating.
Across the two disciplines, Maltais has appeared at five Olympic Games. She came close to an individual short-track medal in Sochi, but fell short. Heading into Milan, Maltais said she was locked in on finally achieving what had always eluded her.
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“I don’t need another top 10. I want to be on the podium individually,” she said.
Two years ago, she drilled down into her training to make it happen. She and her husband, retired speed skater Jordan Belchos, decided to delay starting a family so that she could focus on her goal. At times it meant being selfish, attending additional camps, and adopting a more intense training regime.
“I’m 35 years old. I cannot go to bed late. I cannot drink. And I cannot eat whatever I want,” she said.
Come Saturday afternoon, when she crouched at the line, she wasn’t sure if she was going to place – but she knew she had done everything she could. Still, while circling the oval, she said that she had moments of worry watching her race-mate, Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida. (In the 3000m, athletes compete two at a time, but they are racing the clock. What matters is the final time.)
Valérie Maltais of Canada during the women's 3000m on Saturday.Yves Herman/Reuters
Lollobrigida pulled ahead quickly, fell back, but then made another push. She went on to win the event with an Olympic record-setting time of 3:54.28, becoming the first Italian to win gold in these Games. Norway’s Ragne Wiklund was silver.
“Lollo pulling out a really good race, it was challenging to still do my race and stay calm, seeing her – a little bit like skating away from me,” Maltais said. She told herself to trust her training, and keep putting pressure into the ice. “It was really important to stay calm. It will be to the hundredths of seconds.”
What helped, she said, is that she could hear her coach, Muncef Ouardi saying things such as “good corner entry” and “you’re skating well!” (Speaking to reporters after, Ouardi said that Maltais skated technically very well. “She was doing everything right.”)
When Maltais crossed the line after seven and a half laps, she had a time of 3:56.93 – putting her in second – with four strong skaters left to come, including her teammate Weidemann.
“I’m going to be fourth. Or fifth,” she said she was thinking.
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But in the end, it was enough. Maltais – who comes from the La Baie, Que. – was safely third. Afterward, Weidemann celebrated and cried tears of joy with her training partner.
“I think back to my bronze medal four years ago – she cried with me,” Weidemann said.
“She’s such a phenomenally hard worker. And she is so curious about how to go faster. And I have watched her transition from short track into long track and then excel in long track over the last eight years. We’ve been teammates, very, very close teammates for a very long time. And yeah, I’m just so proud of her.”
In her Olympic debut, Canadian Laura Hall placed 13th during Saturday’s event.
Both Maltais and Weidemann – along with Ivanie Blondin –are part of Canada’s team pursuit where they will work to defend their gold medal later in the Games. Maltais is also competing in the 1500m and mass start.
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