Canada's speed skaters hope for a strong finish at the world championships

Jesse Campigotto · CBC Sports

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 4:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' regular email newsletter. Stay up to velocity connected what's happening successful sports by subscribing here.

Canada's long-track velocity skaters took a measurement backmost this season. After winning 23 medals, including 5 golds, crossed the six World Cup stops successful 2023-24, they ended up with conscionable 16 full and 2 golds erstwhile the circuit wrapped up a mates of weeks ago. That near Canada seventh successful full medals — down from 4th past season.

Another diminution seems astir inevitable astatine the satellite single-distances championships, moving Thursday done Sunday successful Norway. Last year, erstwhile this lawsuit took spot astatine Calgary's Olympic Oval, Canadians captured a national-record 10 medals — trailing lone the perennial powerhouse Netherlands' 13. It'll beryllium pugnacious to lucifer that benignant of accumulation acold distant from location astatine the extremity of a so-so season.

Still, Canada has immoderate beardown medal contenders this week astatine the Hamar Olympic Hall, besides known arsenic the Vikingskipet (Viking Ship).

Let's commencement with Ivanie Blondin, a five-time satellite champion and treble Olympic medallist who led each Canadians with 8 World Cup podiums this season. Four of those came successful idiosyncratic races — including a astonishing triumph successful the 3,000m opener successful Japan backmost successful November that turned retired to beryllium Canada's lone solo golden of the season. Blondin besides earned a metallic successful the wide commencement (her specialty) astatine that aforesaid conscionable earlier finishing with a bronze and a metallic successful the wide commencement astatine the last 2 World Cups.

WATCH | Blondin captures wide commencement bronze successful Poland:

The 34-year-old added 4 relay medals implicit the people of the season, including a golden and a metallic successful the women's squad sprint. Blondin helped Canada triumph the satellite rubric successful the squad sprint past twelvemonth successful Calgary, wherever she besides took metallic successful the wide commencement and the squad pursuit. However, the Olympic-champion pursuit trio of Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais did not scope the podium successful either of its 2 starts this play portion Weidemann and Maltais managed conscionable 1 solo medal apiece.

On the men's side, Canada volition beryllium counting connected Laurent Dubreuil. The 32-year-old sprinter won the men's 500m (the shortest contention successful agelong track) astatine the 2021 satellite championships earlier taking metallic each of the past 2 years portion grabbing an Olympic metallic successful the 1,000m successful 2022. He besides helped Canada to back-to-back satellite titles successful the men's squad sprint successful 2023 and past twelvemonth successful Calgary.

Dubreuil was the lone Canadian to triumph a medal successful a men's World Cup lawsuit this season — idiosyncratic oregon team. He collected six of them, recovering from a groin wounded that kept him disconnected the podium for 2 months to scope the podium successful 5 of the past six 500m races (most World Cup meets connection 2 of them for each gender, compared to conscionable 1 for the different distances).

Dubreuil finished 2nd successful the men's 500m standings for the 5th clip successful his career. At the worlds, there's a bully accidental he'll again find himself trailing Jordan Stolz, the 20-year-old American unit of quality who won 17 of his 21 idiosyncratic races crossed each distances this play to expanse the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m titles.

The afloat database of Canadians competing:

Men

Ted-Jan Bloemen: 5,000m, 10,000,
Laurent Dubreuil: 500m, 1,000m, squad sprint
Christopher Fiola: 500m
Graeme Fish: 5,000m, 10,000m
Connor Howe: 1,000m, 1,500m, squad sprint
Anders Johnson: 500m, squad sprint
David La Rue: 1,000m, 1,500m, wide start

Women

Ivanie Blondin: 1,500m, 3,000m, wide start, squad sprint, squad pursuit
Laura Hall: 5,000m
Rose Laliberté-Roy: 500m
Béatrice Lamarche: 1,000m, squad sprint
Valerie Maltais: 1,500m, 3,000m, wide start, squad pursuit
Brooklyn McDougall: 500m, squad sprint
Isabelle Weidemann: 3,000m, 5,000m, squad pursuit

How to watch:

Every contention volition beryllium streamed unrecorded connected CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, starting Thursday astatine 1 p.m. ET. The CBC TV web volition person further sum connected Saturday astatine 1 p.m. ET. Here's the afloat docket of events.