Quebecer Valérie Maltais wins Canada’s first medal of Winter Olympics

Quebec’s Valérie Maltais won the bronze medal in the 3,000-metre long track speed skating event Saturday.

It’s the first medal for Team Canada at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter games.

Maltais, of La Baie, Que., had a time of three minutes 56.93 seconds, while Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida took the gold on home soil with an Olympic record time of three minutes and 54.28 seconds. Ragne Wiklund of Norway was second in three minutes and 56.54 seconds.

“I felt confident and I feel not surprised, but I feel relieved,” Maltais told CBC Olympics after the race.

“We went all in, and that was the motto this season. We’re going all in and there’s no status quo. We’re taking a risk, but I had people around me who were really smart and made me comfortable that being uncomfortable made me better.”

Maltais raced in the third-last pair and was second overall in her heat against Lollobrigida. She dropped to third when Norway’s Ragne Wilund edged her out in the second-last pair. Maltais held on for bronze when the Netherlands’ Joy Beune ended up fourth overall, more than a second behind the Canadian, in the final pair.

It is the third Olympic medal for Maltais in her fifth Winter Games, having won silver in the 3,000-metre short track relay in 2014 and gold in the team pursuit event in 2022.

Maltais came into the Games in good form, having won a silver and two bronze medals in four World Cup races at this distance this season.

Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann, who won bronze four years ago in Beijing, finished fifth with a time of three minutes and 59.24 seconds. Laura Hall of Salmon Arm, B.C., finished 13th out of 20 skaters with a time of four minutes and 6.13 seconds in her Olympic debut.

— With files from John Marchesan & Sportsnet