Canadian long-track speed skater Valérie Maltais secured her third individual medal of the season by clinching the bronze in the women’s 3000m event at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup held in Inzell, Germany. Maltais, aged 35, finished the race with a time of 3:59.920, narrowly surpassing Kazakhstan’s Nadezhda Morozova (4:00.198) to claim the final spot on the podium. The race was dominated by Norwegian Ragne Wiklund, who set a new track record and personal best time of 3:54.74 to win the gold. Meanwhile, the silver was secured by Joy Beune of the Netherlands with a time of 3:56.960.
Expressing her satisfaction with her performance, Maltais stated, “I’m pleased with my performance today. It was a consistent race, and I believe I skated well. I anticipated Ragne’s fast start, so we incorporated that into my race strategy.” Maltais mentioned that following a successful training camp in Spain, she is commencing her recovery phase, indicating a promising outlook as she has not yet reached her peak performance level. This positive result serves as a good preparation for the upcoming Olympics.
Maltais has now clinched five World Cup podium finishes in individual distances, all in the 3000m category. Her top World Cup performance this season was in Salt Lake City, U.S., where she finished second ahead of Wiklund in the November event. Hailing from Saguenay, Quebec, Maltais qualified for her fifth Olympic Games earlier this winter. The women’s 3000m event is scheduled to take place on Feb. 7.