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United States Canada's Isabelle Weidemann wins Olympic bronze in long track speed skating
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Speed skater Isabelle Weidemann won a bronze in Canada's first medal of the Games on Saturday in the women's 3,000m
BEIJING — About halfway through her 3,000-metre race at the National Skating Oval, Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann was off the pace. She had a tight, choppy start, and the competitor with which she was paired, Ragne Wiklund of Norway, had been out in front for four laps.
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Weidemann, the 26-year-old from Ottawa, was running fifth out of the 18 skaters who had been on the ice. Two more, both heavy medal favourites, were still to come.
But the thing about distance races is that the kick matters. The skaters who can push through the pain can make up a lot of time at the end.
And so there was Weidemann, in the chase. She saw that Wiklund was straining a little. She knew that the skaters who had already gone had faded at the end. It was time to push.
“I knew with about three laps to go she kinda started to die and I knew that I had a little bit of a kick left,” Weidemann said, “so I could maybe be in contention for a good one.”
Then came the kick. Weidemann put down the hammer, and with her long strides — she stands six-foot-two — she reeled in the Norwegian. Weidemann went from fifth with three laps to go to second with two laps to go, and she kept pushing. By the time she crossed the line in a time of 3:58:64, Weidemann had posted the best time of the afternoon. She knew she had won a medal. Gliding along the ice, bent over at the waist, she grimaced and made a bit of a gasping face. It had hurt.
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“You go into a zone where you are not thinking about the ice or, like, anything,” she said later. “Because it hurts every time, whether it’s slow or fast.”
The skate would be good enough for a bronze medal, Canada’s first of Beijing 2022. The final two skaters, Irene Schouten of the Netherlands, and Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy, took the gold and sliver medals. Schouten, who has been basically unbeatable at the distance, broke a 20-year-old Olympic record with a time of 3:56:93.
“I’m very overwhelmed, for sure,” Weidemann said. “But a good feeling, though. I’m just so proud to be able to bring home a medal for Canada.”
The podium finish kicks off what could be a promising stretch for Canada at the gleaming building known as the Ice Ribbon. Ted-Jan Bloemen is scheduled to skate on Sunday here, and there are medal chances in the relays.
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It is the fourth bronze medal in Olympic history for Canadian women at 3,000 metres around the big oval. Cindy Klassen did it twice, in 2002 and 2006, and Kristina Groves matched the feat in 2010. Groves skated at the same Ottawa-area club as Weidemann.
“She’s my hometown hero,” Weidemann said. “She’s been an idol of mine for a very long time, I had posters of her on my wall. So, yeah, it’s very special.”
Weidemann will have two more medal opportunities in Beijing. She will skate in the 5,000-metres, and in the team pursuit alongside Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais.
Postmedia News
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The long and short of it is, Canadian speed skaters ready to produce medals in Beijing -
Olympic speed skater Isabelle Weidemann determined to power through the February blahs
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