Canada secures 1st medal as Maltais wins bronze in 3,000m speedskating

Valerie Maltais won bronze in women's 3,000m long track speedskating to secure Canada's first medal of the 2026 Milan Cortina Games on Saturday.

This is Maltais' third Olympic medal but her first in an individual event after claiming gold in team pursuit during the 2022 Games in Beijing and silver in the 3,000m team relay in 2014.

The 35-year-old is competing in her fifth Olympics.

"I felt confident (racing) and feel relief and really emotional right now," Maltais told Doug Harrison of CBC Sports, adding that this will likely be her final Olympics. "I have a team that believed in me, and believing in me at 35 years old wasn't easy.

"I had people around me who were smart and made me uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable made me better, and I'm proud of that."

Italian Francesca Lollobrigida, who was paired with Maltais, won gold by setting an Olympic record in the event with a time of 3 minutes, 54.28 seconds in front of her home crowd.

Norwegian skater Ragne Wiklund earned the silver medal.

Maltais' Canadian teammates Isabelle Weidemann and Laura Hall placed fifth and 13th, respectively. Weidemann was in the final pair against Dutch skater Joy Beune, one of the favorites to win the event.