{"id":8360,"date":"2022-12-03T16:54:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T21:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedskating.ca\/?p=8360"},"modified":"2022-12-03T18:13:43","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T23:13:43","slug":"antoine-gelinas-beaulieu-and-valerie-maltais-golden-on-second-day-for-four-continents-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedskating.ca\/antoine-gelinas-beaulieu-and-valerie-maltais-golden-on-second-day-for-four-continents-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Antoine G\u00e9linas-Beaulieu and Val\u00e9rie Maltais golden on second day for Four Continents Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alison Desmarais, Jake Weidemann also reach podium in Quebec City<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n
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QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC \u2013 Canada won four medals on the second day of racing at the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships<\/a> in Quebec City, including gold from both Val\u00e9rie Maltais and Antoine G\u00e9linas-Beaulieu.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Maltais (La Baie, Que.) conserved her energy throughout much of the slow moving race, before breaking away from the pack with two laps remaining and sprinting her way to the top of the nine-skater field in a time of 9:14.700. Saturday\u2019s gold medal performance was the 32-year-old\u2019s best international result in the Mass Start, besting her fifth-place finish from a few weeks ago at the World Cup in Heerenveen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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After finishing just off the podium in Friday\u2019s 5000m, G\u00e9linas-Beaulieu delivered a track record en route to gold in the men\u2019s 1500m. The native of Sherbrooke crossed with line in 1:44.666, besting Connor Howe\u2019s mark from this past October. It marked the first international medal in the distance for G\u00e9linas-Beaulieu, who had until now only stood on the World Cup and World Championships podium in the Mass Start and Team Sprit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Joining G\u00e9linas-Beaulieu on the podium were Dmitry Morozov of Kazakhstan (1:46.305) and fellow Canada Jake Weidemann (1:47.405), who won his second-career Four Continents Championships bronze medal in the distance, having previously won in Milwaukee in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Alison Desmarais (Vanderhoof, B.C.) was also a medalist in the 1500m, brining home bronze in the women\u2019s race to capture the first international long track medal of her career an in individual distance.The 25-year old, who previously competed internationally in short track, posted a time of 1:58.260, putting her behind only Kazakhstan skaters Yekaterina Aydova (1:57.528) and Nadezhda Morozova (1:56.378) on the podium. It was Desmarais\u2019 second medal of the weekend, having also captured bronze yesterday\u2019s Team Spring alongside Rose Lalibert\u00e9-Roy and Abigail McCluskey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The competition concludes tomorrow with the men\u2019s and women\u2019s 1000m and Team Pursuit, beginning at 1:00pm ET. Tickets are still available at longuepiste.ca<\/a>. Racing will be live streamed on CBC Sports<\/a> and Radio-Canada Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Quotes<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\u201cI didn\u2019t have any expectations today in terms of medals or track records, I just really wanted to start fast. In most of my races so far this season, I was more conservative, but today I wanted to go all-out from the very beginning. It hurts, it hurts a lot, but there\u2019s a lot of potential when you race the 1500m that way. I know this is the way to race this distance for me and if I continue to do it, I know I can be competitive on the international stage. And to see a track record is a very good sign for me moving forward.\u201d<\/p>Antoine G\u00e9linas-Beaulieu<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n

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I’m very happy with my race today. It’s a completely different style of race than what we see at the World Cups. My objective was to be patient and pick up the speed at the end of the race. It’s something that I need to work on – learning to time my sprint properly and picking up enough speed to end the race – and today I think I succeeded in doing that.<\/p>Val\u00e9rie Maltais<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Results<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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