Canada wins gold in women's team pursuit speedskating
Canada claimed its third gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games on Tuesday, winning the women's team pursuit speedskating final over the Netherlands.
The Canadian team is comprised of Isabelle Weidemann, Valerie Maltais, and Ivanie Blondin. Beatrice Lamarche served as an extra.
“We did it. It’s so wild.”🥹🥇 pic.twitter.com/uRXnUuYiNP
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 17, 2026
Weidemann, Maltais, and Blondin defended the Olympic title they claimed at Beijing 2022. This is the first time the reigning women's team pursuit champs have successfully defended their Olympic gold medal since Germany managed the feat in 2006.
This is the second medal of the 2026 Games for Maltais after she won bronze in the 3,000 meters.
Maltais and Blondin are also considered top medal contenders in Saturday's mass start.
The Dutch team, which was wildly successful on the world championships circuit heading into the Olympics, finished just under one second slower than the Canadians in the gold-medal race.
It's Canada's third gold of the 2026 Games. Canada has now captured gold on three consecutive days with Mikael Kingsbury winning men's dual moguls Sunday and Megan Oldham winning women's freestyle skiing big air Monday.
Japan beat the United States to capture bronze in the speedskating team pursuit. Canada beat the U.S. by more than four seconds to clinch its spot in the gold-medal race.