Valérie Maltais Secures Bronze in 1500m Long Track Speed Skating
Valérie Maltais secured a bronze medal in the women’s 1500m long track speed skating event at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. This achievement, on Friday, marked her third medal at the Games.
Impressive Performance
The Quebec native completed the race with a time of 1 minute and 54.40 seconds. Maltais finished strong, overcoming a less-than-ideal start to maintain a competitive pace in the final laps. Her stamina proved vital, especially as many skaters struggled towards the end.
Race Highlights
- Medal Time: 1:54.40
- Event: Women’s 1500m long track speed skating
- Leading skaters:
- Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong (Netherlands) – 1:54.09
- Ragne Wiklund (Norway) – 1:54.15
Career Achievements
This bronze adds to Maltais’ earlier successes, including another bronze in the 1000m event and a gold medal in the team pursuit alongside teammates Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin. Overall, this is Maltais’ fifth Olympic medal in her career.
Other Competitors
Ivanie Blondin also competed, finishing in fifth place with a time of 1 minute and 54.93 seconds. Although she struggled in her last lap, Blondin showed consistent performance throughout the race.
Béatrice Lamarche, making her Olympic debut, achieved a 17th place finish with a time of 1 minute and 57.24 seconds. Despite her position, she demonstrated solid control, particularly in the early stages of the race. Lamarche contemplated retirement, having started medical school at Université Laval prior to the Games, but hinted at a possible return after her impressive showings.
