Valerie Maltais, center, Ivanie Blondin, right, and Isabelle Weidemann, left, celebrate setting a new track record and winning the women's team pursuit race.AP Photo/Peter Dejong
AP Photo/Peter Dejong

Speed skating: women’s pursuit team sets another national record

Gold medals and breaking records: just another weekend for Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais.

The trio won a World Cup gold and set the national record last week in Salt Lake City with a time of 2:52.39.

On Saturday, they outdid themselves on home turf. They edged out Team Japan with a time of 2:52.07 en route to another gold. China finished a distant third with a time of 2:58.43.

The trio of Blondin, Weidemann, and Maltais are three-for-three this season in the team pursuit.

READ: Canadian women capture team pursuit gold at World Cup in Poland

In the men’s 1500m, it was Connor Howe’s first time on the individual podium. Howe claimed the first World Cup medal of his career after skating to a personal best 1:42.42 on Saturday.

The 21-year-old had been coming up just short of the podium, but broke through with a strong final sprint and was all smiles afterwards.

Howe was just 0.56 seconds off of American Joey Mantia. Norway’s Allan Dahl Johansson finished third.

READ: Laurent Dubreuil skates to a record-breaking gold in Calgary