Canadian speedskater wins World Cup gold

Canadian speedskater Isabelle Weidemann won gold on Sunday in the women’s 3,000-metre event at the ISU World Cup in Japan. The gold was Weidemann’s first individual medal on the senior World Cup circuit. Canada also took two medals in the team sprint events. Ivanie Blondin, Heather McLean and Kaylin Irvine won bronze in the women’s race while Laurent Dubreuil, Christopher Fiola and Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu finished third in the men’s final. Weidemann’s pace of four minutes, 10.185 seconds in the 3,000 set a new track record for the Tomakomai Highland Sports Center and was a full 2.82 seconds faster than silver medallist Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic. Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida was third. Weidemann and Blondin sit third and sixth, respectively, in the overall World Cup rankings for the 3,000m distance after two events.