Connor Howe wins first career World Cup medal with silver in mens 1500m
Valerie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann skate to the gold and overall championship in the womens team pursuit during the ISU speed skating World Cup at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, AB on December 11, 2021. (Photo: Dave Holland/Speed Skating Canada).CALGARY, ALBERTA Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valrie Maltais skated to a new Canadian record in the womens Team Pursuit on Saturday, helping them claim their third consecutive gold and finish the season atop the World Cup rankings.
The Canadians time of 2:52.067 eclipsed their previous national mark of 2:52.412, which was set at last weekends World Cup in Salt Lake City. The hometown crowd roared as they crossed the finish line with the fastest time of the day, which helped them defeating their rivals from Japan (2:52.892), as well as the third-place Chinese (2:58.428).
After a third overall finish to start the Olympic quadrennial in 2018-2019, Canadas team of Weidemann, Blondin and Maltais have earned three straight World Cup titles in the womens team pursuit and should be a medal favourite at Beijing 2022.
It was a memorable afternoon for Canmores Connor Howe, who reached the World Cup podium for the first time in an individual distance on Saturday, skating to a silver medal in the mens 1500m.
The 21-year old posted a personal-best time of 1:42.425 on home ice, putting him behind American Joey Mantia (1:41.860) and ahead of bronze medalist Allan Dahl Johansson of Norway (1:43.275). The podium performance propelled him to third overall in the World Cup rankings, pre-qualifying him for Beijing 2022 in that distance.
Canada also earned a pair of top-10 results in the mens Mass Start, with Jordan Belchos (7:47.580) finishing eighth and Antoine Glinas-Beaulieu (7:46.740) ninth.
The ISU World Cup in Calgary concludes Sunday with the mens 500m(2), 1000m and Team Pursuit, as well as the womens 1500m and Mass Start. The races will be streamed live on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports starting at 2:30pm ET.
- Were really excited! It was a clean race today. We wanted to go out and skate really smooth and make sure that we stayed together, and we accomplished that mission. I think we were a little less nervous than last weekend and really fueled by the crowd here in Calgary. Everybodys family was here to watch us, which made this even more exciting. Isabelle Weidemann
- The Olympic qualification is always in the back of our heads, but we try to just skate each race the best we can, and I think it worked out. I think my consistency has improved a lot this season, so even if Im not always feeling 100%, I can usually skate close to my potential. This weekend, I executed a bit better than in Salt Lake City and some of the top guys werent there so that may have raised me a few places in the standings. I knew I was on pace for a good time after I saw the lap board from my coach, but Joey [Mantia] finished really strong, so I was pretty sure I wouldnt catch him. Connor Howe
- CANADIAN RESULTS
Mens 1500m
- Connor Howe 2nd
- Tyson Langelaar 15th
- Antoine Glinas-Beaulieu – 9th (Division B)
- Vincent de Haitre – 10th (Division B)
- Jess Neufeld – 27th (Division B)
Mens Mass Start
- Jordan Belchos 8th
- Antoine Glinas-Beaulieu 9th
Womens 500m(2)
- Kaylin Irvine 16th
- Heather McLean 17th
- Brooklyn McDougall 19th
- Marsha Hudey DQ
- Carolina Hiller 22nd (Division B)
Womens 1000m
- Valerie Maltais – 18th
- Alexa Scott 6th (Division B)
- Kaylin Irvine – 8th (Division B)
- Maddison Pearman – 9th (Division B)
MEDIA CONTACT
Alain Brouillette
Speed Skating Canada
communications@speedskating.ca
613-601-2630