Maltais wins 1500m bronze for third medal of Milano Cortina 2026

Valérie Maltais skated to the bronze medal in the women’s 1500m in long track speed skating on Friday.

It is her third medal of Milano Cortina 2026, following the bronze she won in the 3000m to get Team Canada on the medal table and the gold she won in the team pursuit with Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann.

Skating in the 10th of 15 pairings, Maltais went into the lead with her time of 1:54.40 over the three and three-quarter laps of the oval. Three pairings later, Norway’s Ragne Wiklund, who had already won 3000m silver and 5000m bronze, bumped Maltais from the top spot by 0.25.

In the penultimate pairing, Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong took over the lead by 0.06 with her time of 1:54.09, pushing Maltais to the bronze medal position.

This is the fifth career Olympic medal for Maltais, putting her among the illustrious group that are tied for second in terms of most Winter Olympic medals won by Canadians.

It’s just the fourth ever Olympic medal Canada has won in the women’s 1500m. The first time Canada reached the Olympic podium in the women’s 1500m was the last time the Games were in Italy. Cindy Klassen and Kristina Groves shared the podium at Turin 2006, winning gold and silver, respectively. Groves added another silver medal at Vancouver 2010.