Following their victory in the team pursuit event at Beijing 2022, speed skaters Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais, and Isabelle Weidemann have become the target for competitors worldwide, prompting Canada’s defending Olympic champions to remain vigilant.
Ahead of the upcoming Winter Games, the trio is currently in Salt Lake City participating in the first World Cup event of the long track season. This event is abbreviated due to the Milano-Cortina 2026 Games scheduled for February.
Arriving in Utah earlier than the rest of the Canadian team, Blondin, Maltais, and Weidemann have engaged in a team pursuit-focused camp to refine their strategy and strive for another victorious performance on the podium. This dedicated training camp marks a new approach for the trio, emphasizing their commitment to reclaiming their top position in the sport.
Although the trio has previously skated together in preparation for the 2025-26 season, this camp marks the first time they are exclusively focusing on the team pursuit discipline in which they clinched Olympic gold four years ago. Motivated by their competitors’ advancements, the skaters are revamping their race strategies to stay ahead of the pack.
CBC Analyst Kristina Groves breaks down the team pursuit in long track speed skating, which sees three athletes competing together to push each other to the fastest time.
In the women’s team pursuit, two teams comprising three skaters each start simultaneously on opposite sides of the 400-meter oval, covering a total of six laps. Team members take turns leading to reduce wind resistance, and the race concludes when all three skaters cross the finish line.
During their initial team pursuit at the 2019 world championships, Blondin, Maltais, and Weidemann secured a surprise fourth-place finish despite facing challenges with inexperience and unrefined race strategies that they continue to refine today.
Reflecting on their early races together, Maltais reminisced, “It was my first team pursuit ever, and we finished fourth. And we were doing one gazillion, million exchanges. I don’t even remember exactly what we did. Like I couldn’t do much…”
Weidemann added humorously, “I don’t think any of us could do much.”
Maltais emphasized the evolution of their strategies over time, stating, “Our strategy was crazy. It evolved and changed, and even
