By Pearl Josephine Nazare
MILAN, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais said they are ready to pass the torch to the next wave of Canadian talent in the team pursuit speed skating event after successfully defending the women’s Olympic title alongside Ivanie Blondin on Tuesday.
The trio – who also powered Canada to gold in Beijing 2022 – stopped the clock at two minutes 55.81 seconds, finishing 0.96 seconds ahead of the Netherlands to secure Canada’s first speed skating gold of the Milano Cortina Games.
It marked only the nation’s third gold medal of these Games, following victories for Mikael Kingsbury in men’s dual moguls and Megan Oldham in women’s freestyle skiing big air.
“We skated together for eight years. I don’t think there are a lot of other teams that haven’t changed their team over the last eight years,” Weidemann, who also won silver in the 5,000 metres and bronze in the 3,000m at Beijing, said.
“Defending together meant a lot, but I also think we knew going in that we need to pass the torch a little bit. There’s another generation of Canadian speed skaters coming up and we’re really excited to watch them.
“We’ve done a lot for the team pursuit, the three of us. We’re ready to watch the next generation. I’m proud of where we’re leaving speed skating in Canada. We’ve paved the road a little bit with this team.”
Maltais, 35, agreed they would not be competing at the next Olympics.
“The future? I think we’re not going to be there in four years,” Maltais said with a laugh. “That’s the straight answer. Isabelle, at the end of the race, when we still had our skates on, she was like, ‘so this is it?'”
While Blondin, also 35, has not confirmed whether she will continue competing after these Games, she said she plans to remain involved with Speed Skating Canada in some capacity.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Milan;Editing by Toby Davis)
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