Canada's Isabelle Weidemann skates to silver medal at World Cup in Norway
Ottawa speed skater reaches podium in women's 3,000m
Canadian speed skater Isabelle Weidemann won a silver medal in the women's 3,000 metres on Saturday at a World Cup stop in Hamar, Norway.
Weidemann, from Ottawa, worked through a slow start before overtaking pair mate Ragne Wiklund of Norway (4:01.41) to cross the finish line with a time of four minutes 1.30 seconds.
Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands (4:00.95) joined them on the podium with gold.
"I've skated against Ragne quite a bit this season and we've gone back and forth," Weidemann said in a release. "... It takes me a while sometimes to find the right gear, but once I find the pace it seems to click, and that's the point when others start to struggle.
"I think there's a trust in my strategy. I'm watching people skate away from me because I don't have the sprint in the beginning, but I know that when the pace starts to slow down, especially on slow ice like this, I can work a little bit."
Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., and Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin finished the event in fourth (4:03.62) and tenth (4:07.08), respectively.
Weidemann earned her first medal of the season last Friday, a silver in the 5,000m.
The 30-year-old finishes the four Olympic qualifying World Cups ranked second overall (191 points) in the women's long distances, one spot ahead of teammate Maltais (174 points). Although official team nominations will not be made until mid-January, those results prequalify the pair for the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Also Saturday, Beatrice Lamarche of Quebec City placed 10th in the women's 1,000 metres in 1:16.35, finishing 1.96 seconds behind race winner Miho Takagi of Japan.
Calgary's Ted-Jan Bloemen finished fifth in the men's 5,000m, 6.75 seconds behind the track-record time of 6:07.58 established by gold medallist Metoděj Jílek of Czechia.
Watch live coverage of the Sunday's competition in Hamar on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, with action resuming at 7 a.m. ET. The full streaming schedule is available here.
