Canada's Kali Christ strikes gold in women's 1,500m at ISU Speed Skating Four Continents
Ted-Jan Bloemen, Hayden Mayeur add silver medals for Team Canada in Calgary
Canada's Kali Christ claimed a gold medal in the women's 1,500m race at the ISU Speed Skating Four Continents championship in Calgary on Thursday.
The native of Regina posted a 1:57.679 time to finish ahead of Americans Sarah Warren, 2.74 seconds slower, and Jamie Jurak, who finished 4.22 seconds behind the Canadian.
It was Christ's second podium in two days, having captured a bronze medal in the women's team sprint event on Wednesday with teammates Lindsey Kent and Carolina Hiller.
Team Canada added two more medals on the second day of the tournament, raising its total to six overall. Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary earned silver in the men's 1,500m, while Hayden Mayeur of Toronto also finished second in the men's mass start.
WATCH l Regina's Kali Christ goes gold in women's 1,500m:
"I just wanted to go out there and work on the technical points that I've been focusing on this week with my coaches, Bart [Schouten] and Shannon [Rempel], and I think I did just that," said Christ after the race.
"I feel like I'm getting back to how I use to skate before the pandemic. It feels really good knowing that I can still execute those technical points in a race when I need to."
WATCH l Ted-Jan Bloemen skates to hometown silver medal:
Bloemen, who captured two medals at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, posted a time of 1:45.659 in the men's 1,500m for silver.
The hometown skater finished just 0.33 seconds behind Dmitry Morozov of Kazakhstan and ahead of Min Seok Kim of South Korea, who finished the race 1.14 slower than Morozov.
On Wednesday, Bloemen won gold in the men's 5,000m race.
Mayeur set a time of 8:17.970, only 0.96 shy of gold medallist Cheonho Um of South Korea. American Zach Stoppelmoor came 1.13 behind Um's time for bronze.
WATCH l Toronto's Hayden Mayeur earns silver in mass start:
"There were a few opportunities during the race where I found myself chasing down a couple breakaway attempts, which may have gotten rid of a bit of energy, but I didn't want to give away the chance at winning a medal so I put myself out there to bring the field down," Mayeur said.
Neufeld was eighth in the men's mass start, while Laura Hall finished the women's 1,500 event in sixth.
The men's and women's 1,000m and team pursuit races will wrap up the three-day event on Friday.
