The first Canadian medal at the Beijing Olympics belongs to Isabelle Weidemann. The Ontario skater won bronze in the 3,000 meters on Saturday morning.
Posted at 5:59
Weidemann, second to last to start, clocked 3:58, 1.71s behind gold medalist Irene Schouten of the Netherlands, and 1.13s behind. from the silver one, the Italian Francesca Lollobrigida.
PHOTO PHIL NOBLE, REUTERS
Isabelle Weidemann shed a few tears after crossing the finish line.
This is the first Olympic medal in two appearances at the Games for the 26-year-old Canadian. In PyeongChang in 2018, she finished seventh in this event. In recent months on the World Cup circuit, she has won silver in two of three 3,000m races.
PHOTO PAUL CHIASSON, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Quebecer Valérie Maltais took the 12and rank with a time of 4 min 4.27 s. Remember that this is the third Olympic Games for Maltais, but his first in long track. In Sochi in 2014, she won silver in the 3000m short track relay.
Before leaving for China, the Saguenéenne had indicated that her goal was to get on the podium in the team pursuit. In the individual distances, she wanted to “do the best possible races” and see “where [elle] can go “. ” One top 10 in each of my distances would make me very satisfied,” she mentioned.
The other Canadian who took part in the distance, Ivanie Blondin, was ranked 14and out of the 20 athletes, completing the distance in 4 min 6.40 s.
The next long track skaters to be in action in Beijing will be Ivanie Blondin and Maddison Pearman, Monday, at 3:30 a.m. (Quebec time), in the 1500 m.