Maltais and Howe win second gold medals of the competition
CALGARY, ALBERTA – Valérie Maltais and Connor Howe skated to national titles in the 1500m on the third day racing at the 2023 Canadian Long Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance in Calgary.
Maltais (La Baie, Que.) outraced 23 other skaters in the women’s 1500m with a time of 1:55.60, adding another gold medal to her tally. The 33-year-old also won Thursday’s 3000m and earned silver in yesterday’s 5000m. Isabelle Weidemann (Ottawa, Ont.) also claimed her third medal of the competition, finishing second in the 1500m with a time of 1:56.16, adding to her 5000m gold and 3000m silver. Beatrice Lamarche (Quebec City, Que.) captured the bronze medal with a time of 1:59.08.
Howe (Canmore, Alta.) skated to his second gold medal of the weekend with a time of 01:43.16 in the men’s 1500m. The victory followed his gold medal win in the 1000m and silver medal in the 5000m. Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Que.) secured the silver, crossing the finish line at 01:43.82, while David La Rue (Saint-Lambert, Que.) took home the bronze medal, posting a time of 01:44.66.
In the second women’s 500m of the weekend, Carolina Hiller (Prince George, B.C.) finished in first place (37.93), Rose Laliberté-Roy (Saint-Étienne, Que..) came in second (38.97), and Jenna Larter (Brookfield, P.E.I.) was third (39.01). On the men’s side, Frank Roth (Calgary, Alta.) was the winner (35.30), ahead of Cooper Emin (Cole Harbour, N.S.) in second (35.37) and Yankun Zhao (Calgary, Alta.) in third (35.38). The results of these 500m races will contribute towards national ranking points.
The fourth and final day of the 2023 Canadian Long Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance wraps up Sunday with the second set of women’s and men’s 1000m, along with the women’s and men’s mass start. The races will be live streamed starting at 10:00am MT on Speed Skating Canada’s YouTube channel, as well as on CBC Sports digital platforms.
Quotes
Valérie Maltais“My race was really good today. I think I haven’t skated under a 1:58.00 since before the Olympics, so I’m really happy that I focused on that a little bit more this summer because I wanted to be back in the world cups and I want to build from that race and just get better. So I’m really happy that the work pays off and that I was able to execute a race like I wanted to execute. This season, I feel strong and I feel that mentally I want to have a step on that podium on the individual level. That was my objective last year and I got closer, and this year I believe I can do it. That’s what I’m looking the most forward to.”
Connor Howe“It was pretty good. I was kind of going for it a bit more. Maybe not as relaxed as the one two weeks ago but I was able to keep it going. I had the big slip over there but got into it as best as I could again after that. The mass start tomorrow, I don’t really have a plan to race that if I can make it but I’ll try to have fun with that one and then kind of focus on the 1000m, 1500m team pursuit this year at the world cups.”