Maltais wins Canada’s first medal in Milan

MILAN – Canada has its first medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Valérie Maltais of La Baie, Que., won bronze in the women’s 3,000-metre speedskating event Saturday with a time of three minutes 56.93 seconds, marking her first individual Olympic medal.

Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida won gold on home soil in an Olympic-record 3:54.28, while Norway’s Ragne Wiklund took silver in 3:56.54.

It was Italy’s first gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games.

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The bronze added to Maltais’s Olympic résumé, which includes gold in the women’s team pursuit at the 2022 Beijing Games alongside Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin, as well as silver in the women’s 3,000-metre relay in short track at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

She is the first Canadian speed skater to win Olympic medals in both long track and short track.

Ottawa’s Weidemann, who won bronze in the event at the 2022 Beijing Games, skated in the final pair Saturday but couldn’t beat Maltais’s time and settled for fifth.

Laura Hall of Salmon Arm, B.C., finished 13th out of 20 skaters with a time of 4:06.13 in her Olympic debut.