Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin of Team Canada compete in the semifinal.Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Canada’s speedskaters won their second straight gold medal in the women’s team pursuit on Tuesday, successfully defending their 2022 Beijing Olympic title with a come-from-behind victory at the Milan Cortina Games.
Valérie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann defeated the Netherlands in the final to top the podium for the second straight Games.
“I did feel we were skating really powerfully, we were together the whole time,” Weidemann said. “We were executing really well. When we had two laps to go, I was like, ’Oh yeah, this is a good one.’”
The win marks the first time since 2010 that a country has earned the top spot at back-to-back Olympics. The Canadians trailed the Dutch early, but surged into the lead in the back half of the race and won in two minutes 55.81 seconds.
Blondin said coming into the race as defending champions was “an honour.”
“It’s the same team, there’s some sense every single time we go to the line that we’re calm, collected and one unit,” she said. “That’s very powerful. It gives us a lot of confidence going into every single race.”
It was Canada’s 12th medal at the game, and third gold. It’s also a fourth career medal for Maltais, and her second at these Games, after a bronze in the 3,000m. Weidemann also has four medals, after winning three in Beijing, while Blondin now has three, including two golds.
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