Fourteen Canadian skaters will wear the maple leaf this weekend in hopes of reaching podium in one of 12 individual distances and four team events
HAMAR, NORWAY – The Canadian long track speed skating team is in Norway this weekend for the season-ending ISU World Speed Skating Championships. The famous Vikingskipet – otherwise known as the Hamar Olympic Hall – last hosted this prestigious event in 1996, the first year single-distance championships were added to the international calendar.
Canada won a record 10 medals at last season’s World Championships on home ice in Calgary and enters this weekend’s competition having captured 16 medals across six World Cup stops, including two gold, eight silver and six bronze.
Veteran skater Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) has earned the most hardware of any Canadian skater on the World Cup circuit, bringing home four individual distance medals across the long distances (1 gold) and mass start (2 silver, 1 bronze), as well as two in the team sprint (1 gold, 1 silver) and two in the mixed relay (2 bronze). Isabelle Weidemann (Ottawa, Ont.) and Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.) also reached the podium in women’s individual distances this season, with Weidemann winning bronze in the 3000m in Beijing and Maltais taking mass start silver that same weekend.
Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.) was the only Canadian male to reach the podium this season, earning six medals in the 500m (4 silver, 2 bronze) and finishing second in the overall distance rankings. The women’s team sprint squad of Blondin, Béatrice Lamarche (Québec City, Que.) and Carolina Hiller (Prince George, B.C.) also finished second overall in their discipline, while Blondin and teammates Yankun Zhao (Calgary, Alta.) and Anders Johnson (Burnaby, B.C.) captured the inaugural World Cup title in the mixed relay.
The full list of Canadian skaters competing at the ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Hamar can be found below. Individual and team distances they have been selected to participate in will be revealed in the coming days.
- Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.)
- Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.)
- Christopher Fiola (Montréal, Que.)
- Graeme Fish (Moose Jaw, Sask.)
- Connor Howe (Canmore, Alta.)
- Anders Johnson (Burnaby, B.C.)
- David La Rue (Saint-Lambert, QC)
- Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.)
- Laura Hall (Calgary, Alta.)
- Rose Laliberté-Roy (Saint-Étienne, QC)
- Béatrice Lamarche (Québec City, Que.)
- Valerie Maltais (La Baie, Que.)
- Brooklyn McDougall (Calgary, Alta.)
- Isabelle Weidemann (Ottawa, Ont.)
The ISU World Speed Skating Championships take place from Thursday to Sunday, with racing live streamed on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports digital platforms throughout the weekend. CBC will also provide live television coverage on Saturday beginning at 1:00pm ET, with long track Olympian Anastasia Bucsis and veteran broadcaster Signa Butler on the call.
Schedule
- Thursday, March 13
- 13:00 ET: 3000m Women
- 14:11 ET: 5000m Men
- 15:57 ET: Team Sprint Women
- 16:14 ET: Team Sprint Men
- Friday, March 14
- 14:00 ET: Team Pursuit Women
- 14:25 ET: Team Pursuit Men
- 15:07 ET: 500m Women
- 15:46 ET: 500m Men
- Saturday, March 15
- 9:00 ET: 1000m Women
- 9:45 ET: 1000m Men
- 10:37 ET: 5000m Women
- 11:48 ET: Mass Start Men
- Sunday, March 16
- 7:00 ET: 1500m Men
- 7:56 ET: 1500m Women
- 8:53 ET: 10000m Men
- 10:58 ET: Mass Start Women