Maltais captures silver, bronze in final races before Milano Cortina
Milano Cortina medal hopeful Valérie Maltais raced to medals in consecutive days, taking home a silver and a bronze in what she hopes is a sign of things to come at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Inzell, Germany.
Sunday was capped by Maltais sprinting to a second place finish with a time of 8:38.77, behind only Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands (8:38.32). Fellow Canadian Ivanie Blondin just missed a podium finish with a time of 8:39.30, as American Mia Manganello was one hundredth of a second quicker in a time of 8:39.29. The silver is the second in the mass start event for Maltais this season.
Canada also finished the weekend with a silver medal in the women’s team sprint, as Blondin teamed up with Béatrice Lamarche and Carolina Hiller-Donnelly finishing with a time of 1:26.84. The Dutch team set a track record time of 1:25.52 to win gold, while the host German’s finished third in 1:28.45.
On Saturday, Maltais stormed back from sixth place midway through the race, and eventually passed Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda Morozova in the final lap to reach the podium. She finished with a time of three minutes, 59.92 seconds.
Maltais, in the final World Cup race before the Olympic Games, finished the ISU long-distance season tied for third with Joy Beune of the Netherlands.
Ragne Wiklund of Norway set a personal best and track record with her time of 3:54.74. Beune claimed silver (3:56.96).
Maltais will race in her fifth Olympic Games in Milano Cortina 2026. She will compete in 3000m, as well as the 1500m, mass start, and team pursuit. She finished 12th in the 3000m in Beijing 2022.
The World Cup stop in Inzell, Germany is the fifth and final of the season. Wiklund’s impressive performance put the bow on a dominant Crystal Globe season. She finished 43 points ahead of Canadian Isabelle Weidemann for first place.
Weidemann finished in second in the overall standings, but was held to seventh place in Saturday’s race. Blondin finished in tenth place.
In the 1000m race, Lamarche earned a sixth place finish.
