17 skaters will kick-off international season with Four Continents Championships and World Cups in Asia
CALGARY, ALBERTA – Speed Skating Canada announced today the composition of its long track team for the start of the 2024-25 international season, which includes three competitions in Japan and China.
The international campaign gets underway next weekend with the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships in Hachinohe City, Japan. This marks the first time this competition is being hosted outside North America since it was added to the international calendar in 2019.
Hachinohe City will then host the first ISU World Cup Speed Skating of the season the following weekend, from November 22-24, before skaters make their way to Beijing, host venue for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, for the second World Cup of the season from November 29 to December 1.
Canada will send 15 skaters to the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships. Christopher Fiola and Laura Hall will join the team one week later to take part in the first two World Cups of the season. A skaters individual distances will be confirmed on Speed Skating Canada’s social channels several days before each competition.
- Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.)
- Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.)
- Graeme Fish (Moose Jaw, Sask.)
- Connor Howe (Canmore, Alta.)
- Anders Johnson (Burnaby, B.C.)
- Tyson Langelaar (Winnipeg, Man.)
- David La Rue (Saint-Lambert, Que.)
- Hayden Mayeur (Toronto, Ont.)
- Yankun Zhao (Calgary, Alta.)
- Christopher Fiola (Montréal, Que.)
- Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.)
- Carolina Hiller (Prince George, B.C.)
- Béatrice Lamarche (Quebec City, Que.)
- Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.)
- Maddison Pearman (Ponoka, Alta.)
- Isabelle Weidemann (Ottawa, Ont.)
- Laura Hall (Salmon Arm, B.C.)
Canada’s long track team is coming off one of their most successful international seasons of the past decade, in which they won an impressive 23 World Cup medals across six events, including four on home ice in Quebec City last February. The team also took advantage of home-ice to win a record 10 medals (2 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze) at the season-ending World Championships in Calgary.
Following the three events in Asia, the world’s top long track skaters will make their way to North America in the New Year, with World Cup stops in Calgary (January 24-26) and Milwaukee (January 31-February 2). The circuit will conclude with events in Zakopane, Poland (February 21-23) and Heerenveen, Netherlands (February 28-March 2), before the World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Hamar, Norway, caps things off from March 13-16.