Valerie Maltais has put Canada on the board.
The speedskater captured bronze in the women’s 3,000 metres on Saturday, giving Canada its first medal of the Winter Olympics.
Competing in her fifth Olympics, Maltais, 35, earned her third career medal.
The La Baie, Que. skater won a short-track silver in relay in the 2014 Olympics before making the transition to long-track in 2022 and joining forces with Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann to win team pursuit gold.
On Saturday in Milan, Maltais raced in the third-last pair and was second overall after crossing the line in three minutes 56.93 seconds. She also was second in her heat as Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida put down an Olympic record of 3:54.28 to win gold.
Maltais dropped to third when Norway’s Ragne Wilund edged her out in the second-last pair in 3:56.93.
Maltais held on for bronze when the Netherlands’ Joy Beune ended up fourth overall, more than a second behind the Canadian, in the final pair.
Maltais came into the Games in good form. She won a silver and two bronze medals in four World Cup races at this distance this season.
It was the second medal in a row for Canada at the Games in the women’s 3,000. Four years ago on opening day, Weidemann took bronze in the same event for Canada’s first medal.
from Sportsnet.ca
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