“I fought the whole time”: Weidemann gives her all in 5000m
On a day filled with expectations and hopes, Isabelle Weidemann discovered almost immediately after her 5000m race began Thursday that she just didn’t have the gears she needed to compete.
Hoping to improve upon her silver-medal performance at Beijing 2022, the 30-year-old from Ottawa was never able to overcome a slow start and had to settle for a fifth-place finish at Milano Cortina 2026.
“I’m disappointed, to be honest,” she said after posting a time of six minutes 50.08 seconds, nearly four seconds off the winning pace. “I really wanted to be on the podium, real badly. I just didn’t have it. The first lap in I was like, whoa this is really fast.”
Paired with Ragne Wiklund of Norway, who took the bronze medal in 6:46.34, Weidemann knew from past races she had the ability to come back. But when she looked for that extra gear, it wasn’t there.
She found herself trailing Wiklund early and realized “ah no I can’t get this back.”
“I knew going in she was going to be way out in front,” Weidemann said of her opponent. “And I think I skate okay when I have something to chase … but there was no extra gear. I’ve had these moments throughout the season where suddenly it clicks and, oh yeah, there’s the speed … but I just didn’t have it. Eight laps to go and I’m like, oh my gosh, eight laps to go.
“But I fought the whole time, I had nothing left so I’m happy with that. Feeling disappointed, but I also just wanted to have fun today because I don’t know how many more 5000s I have left in my career, so I wanted to enjoy every moment of it.”
Laura Hall, a 22-year-old from Salmon Arm, B.C. making her Olympic debut, finished ninth in 7:02.90. After finishing 13th in the 3000m earlier in the Games, Hall and her pair partner Marina Zueva, a three-time Olympian, had a slow start. While Hall faltered on the final lap of the gruelling 12.5 lap race, Zueva, a 33-year-old from Belarus, surged in the final couple of laps to finish in 6:57.70.
While the Canadians didn’t have the races they had hoped for, hometown favourite Francesca Lollobrigida completed a long track double, winning the 5000m in 6:46.17. She had won the 3000m six days earlier.
She became the first Italian woman to medal in 5000m and it took a herculean-type effort for her to get to the finish line first. Competing in her fourth Olympics, Lollobrigida was obviously fatigued in the bell lap but urged on by the boisterous, cheering supporters, she found strength in her legs and drove through the finish to nip Merel Conijn of the Netherlands by one-tenth of a second.
