Canada wins speed skating women's team pursuit at Beijing 2022

Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais (L to R) celebrate after the speed skating women's team pursuit finals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Canada won the speed skating women's team pursuit gold medal of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games at the National Speed Skating Oval here on Tuesday.

Ivanie Blondin, Valerie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann beat the Japanese team in the finals, timing two minutes and 53.44 seconds and breaking the Olympic record of 2:53.61 set by Japan in the quarterfinals last Saturday.

The gold is Canada's first-ever in women's team pursuit. "I don't even know what the medal means to me at this point. It's everything we've worked towards for the last four years," said Blondin after the race.

PyeongChang gold medalist Japan won the silver by 3:04.47, as they had a slight lead entering the final turn but Nana Takagi slipped and crashed into the padding, allowing Canada to cruise to the win.

"I saw it on the screen. I saw that somebody slid out, but I think we wanted to approach every race in the team pursuit and empty everything," said Weidemann.

The Netherlands defeated the Russian Olympic Committee to win the bronze medal. The Chinese team finished fifth after beating Norway in Final C. 

Han Mei, Li Qishi and Adake Ahenaer (front to rear) of China compete during the speed skating women's team pursuit final at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)

Irene Schouten (L), Ireen Wust (C) and Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands compete during the speed skating women's team pursuit finals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

Takagi Miho (L) comforts Takagi Nana of Japan after the speed skating women's team pursuit finals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Wu Wei)

Silver medalists of Japan celebrate during the flower ceremony of speed skating women's team pursuit at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

Bronze medalists of the Netherlands celebrate during the flower ceremony of speed skating women's team pursuit at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

Gold medalists of Canada celebrate the flower ceremony of speed skating women's team pursuit at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

Takagi Nana, Sato Ayano and Takagi Miho (R to L ) of Japan compete during the speed skating women's team pursuit finals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Ding Xu)

Athletes of Poland compete during the speed skating women's team pursuit finals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Ding Xu)

Ahenaer Adake, Li Qishi and Han Mei (R to L) of China compete during the speed skating women's team pursuit finals at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Ding Xu)