Maltais, Belchos win mass start gold on final day of Canadian long track championships
The Canadian Press | Posted: October 8, 2023 11:24 PM | Last Updated: October 8, 2023
La Baie, Que.'s Maltais finishes competition in Calgary with 3 gold, 1 silver
Valérie Maltais earned her third gold medal at the Canadian long track speed skating championships on Sunday in Calgary.
Maltais won the women's mass start crown for a second consecutive year on the final day of competition at the Olympic Oval with 63 points, finishing ahead of Darby Beeson (40) and Rose-Anne Grenier (20).
"I'm very happy with my race," Maltais said in a release. "I did what I had to do in order to secure my World Cup spot in this distance. I find the mass start quite difficult at the Canadian championships, it's a different dynamic compared to the World Cups.
"When the pack started to pull away, I didn't want to react right away because I thought some other girls would follow, but I also didn't want them to take off without me. I decided to break away before it was too late and I think I made the right move, at the right time."
Maltais, a 33-year-old from La Baie, Que., has also been victorious in the 3,000 metres and 1,500, while earning silver in the 5,000 earlier in the championships.
Toronto's Jordan Belchos, meanwhile, earned the men's title in the mass start.
Belchos broke away from the pack with two laps remaining and held on for the victory, crossing the line in seven minutes and 40.46 seconds.
Toronto's Hayden Mayeur narrowly claimed silver (7:41.11) over Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu (7:41.14) of Sherbrooke, Que., who settled for bronze.
"I'm happy with how the race went overall and am very proud of myself," Belchos said. "I sensed a moment to go and made my attack. I didn't necessarily expect to win in the beginning of the race; I just wanted to contribute something to the race to help simulate what a World Cup would be."
Canada's long track team kicks off their international season with World Cups in Obihiro, Japan (Nov. 10-12), Beijing (Nov. 17-19), Stavanger, Norway (Dec. 1-3) and Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland (Dec. 8-10).
The Centre de glace Intact Assurance in Quebec City will host its first-ever World Cup from Feb. 2-4, two weeks before the ISU World Speed Skating Championships make their return to the Olympic Oval for the first time since 1998 (Feb. 15-28).