Speed skating: Canada earns three medals with women’s double podium finish in Minsk
Isabelle Weidemann won gold and Ivanie Blondin won bronze in the women’s 3000-metre on Friday to highlight Canada’s first day at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Minsk, Belarus.
With a time of 4:04.679, Weidemann edged out Carlijn Achtereekte of the Netherlands for the gold by less than half a second. It all came down to the last few laps for Weidemann, who posted the best final lap of the day at 32.2 seconds to earn the victory. Meanwhile, Blondin captured bronze with a time of 4:06.080.
Weidemann made headlines this past October after winning gold in the women’s 5000m at the 2019 Canadian Long Track Championships in Calgary. With her time of 6:47.34, she bested Cindy Klassen’s Canadian record mark of 6:48.97 set in 2006.
Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann smiles after skating in the women’s 5000-metre competition at the ISU World Allround Championships speedskating event in Calgary, Alta., Sunday, March 3, 2019.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Canada earned another bronze medal in the non-Olympic men’s team sprint event. The team of Gilmore Junio, Alex Boisvert-Lacroix, Laurent Dubreuil, and David La Rue finished in 1:21.680 to claim third place.
Olympic gold medalist Ted-Jan Bloemen finished eighth in the men’s 5000m while fellow Canadian Graeme Fish finished fifth.
READ: Short track vs. long track speed skating: What’s the difference?
The first ISU World Cup of the season continues this weekend with two more days of long track speed skating action.
You can watch it all live at CBC Sports.
