Blondin, Weidemann, Maltais win team pursuit gold at speed skating World Cup
Canadian teammate Laurent Dubreuil picks up silver in men's 500 metres in Poland
Canada captured two medals on the second day of competition at the World Cup speedskating event in Poland on Saturday.
The Canadians ended the day in style with the trio of Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais winning the gold medal in the team pursuit.
The three Canadians, Olympic champions in the same discipline at 2022 Beijing Games, took the lead on the third of the 12 laps of the event and were never caught.
With the victory, the Canadian team secured its fourth consecutive overall World Cup title in the distance.
Despite the golden performance, Weidemann says the team still has some bugs to work out before the world championships, March 2-5, in Heerenveen.
"It's a few years in a row now that we have been able to bring home the overall title, which we are proud of as a team. We have one more race at the world championships and obviously that is the big one," said Weidemann. "We felt smooth and powerful today, but there are always things to work on and we are missing a bit of speed. So we are hoping to rest over the next few weeks and go into the world championships stronger and a little bit more snappy."
The other Canadian medal of the day went to Laurent Dubreuil, who won silver in the 500 metres with a time of 34.87 seconds. Dubreuil slipped between a pair of Japanese skaters — Wataru Morishige, who raced to gold in 34.78 seconds, and Yuma Murakami, who finished third in 35.03.
Canada 🇨🇦 make it 3️⃣ wins from 3️⃣ World Cups in the Women's Team Pursuit to seal the title! 🎉 <a href="https://t.co/139tzzSvSx">pic.twitter.com/139tzzSvSx</a>
—@SSC_PVCThe silver was Dubreuil's fifth consecutive podium finish in the 500, having so far captured two gold, two silver and a bronze.
The 30-year-old sits atop the World Cup rankings with 276 points, 42 points ahead of his closest challenger Murakami.
Dubreuil will try to add another medal on Sunday in the men's 1,000. He won silver in that event at the Beijing Olympics.
The athletes return tomorrow at 9 a.m. ET for the final day of the fifth World Cup leg, and will be back in Poland for the sixth and final stop next weekend.
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