Weidemann, Blondin each medal twice in Hamar
Team Canada’s women’s skaters had a big weekend, as the team of Valérie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann won gold in the team pursuit at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Hamar, Norway.
Canada raced in the team pursuit final against the United States, and despite trailing the American time for 11 laps in the 12-lap final, Canada crossed the finish line just 0.86 seconds ahead of the Americans.
Canada had finished in second place at the previous two pursuit races this season. With a gold medal at the final pursuit race in Norway, Canada broke a first-place tie with Japan to finish first overall. Japan finished in third place in Sunday’s race with a time of 2:58.622.
The pursuit medals were not the only hardware collected by Weidemann and Blondin this weekend; on Saturday Weidemann reached the podium with a silver in 3000m, while Blondin took home bronze in the mass start.
Weidemann, a medal hopeful for Milano Cortina after she won bronze in the 3000m in Beijing, got off to a slow start on Saturday before making her move around the fifth lap. She jumped into podium position with three laps remaining, passing Norway’s Ragne Wiklund in the final lap to claim silver. Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands won gold.
Weidemann is battling Wiklund for first in the World Cup long distance standings. Currently, she sits 19 points back of the Norwegian for first place overall. Canada’s Valerie Maltais, who finished fourth in the 3000m, is in third place in the overall standings.
Ivanie Blondin rose from the middle of the pack to claim a medal in the mass start. She fell to seventh place in the 14th lap, but stormed back in the final two laps to finish in third, taking home a bronze.
Blondin was the gold medal winner in the mass start at the ISU stop in Calgary, and sits in third place overall in the category with just one race remaining in the 2025-26 ISU Speed Skating season.
The race for the overall long distance champions will finish just ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, as skaters will compete in Inzell, Germany from January 23 to 25.
