Canada's Blondin, Weidemann and Maltais capture gold in team pursuit at speed skating World Cup in Poland
Trio delivers Canada's 4th podium finish at season-opening World Cup stop
Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais delivered Canada's first gold medal of the new ISU World Cup long track speed skating season with a team pursuit victory on Saturday in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.
The Canadians finished ahead of Japan's Miho Oshigiri, Nana Takagi and Ayano Sato (3:01.51), who were followed by Dutch skaters Ireen Wust, Irene Schouten and Antoinette De Jong with a time of 3:02.69.
Japan is the reigning Olympic champion in the event.
WATCH | Canada wins World Cup gold in team pursuit:
Weidemann also reached the podium on the opening day by winning silver in the women's 3,000-metre race with a time of 4:05.25. Despite topping the podium on Saturday, Weidemann still sees room to grow in the team pursuit.
"There's a lot we want to continue improving on. I don't think it was our best race; we made some mistakes," Weidemann said.
"We were a little bit scrambly. It was our first one in a long time. So it was just figuring it out again. But it was a really great first one and I think we're excited to keep building off of it."
Maltais also competed in the women's 1,000, where she placed 15th in 1:17.887. Kaylin Irvine finished 19th (1:19.085) as the other Canadian in the event.
Connor Howe came up just shy of the podium with a fourth-place finish in the men's 1,500 (1:46.863), while fellow Canadians Tyson Langelaar (1:48.578) and Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu (1:49.909) finished 15th and 19th, respectively.
Heather Mclean finished 18th in the women's 500 with a time of 38.893, one spot ahead of fellow Canadian Brooklyn McDougall (39.159).
There are four World Cup stops on the road to the Beijing 2022 Olympics, including one in Calgary beginning Dec. 9. Those events will help determine who will represent Canada at the Games in February.
The World Cup season wraps up Mar. 12 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
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