The crowd went wild when Valérie Maltais (CAN) seized the first World Cup podium of her career in the overall ranking, at the first World Cup in Quebec City in 32 years. The 33-year-old from La Baie, Quebec maintained her third-place standing in the long distance ranking by winning a bronze medal on home ice. Irene Schouten (NED) won the distance ahead of Joy Beune (NED). Ragne Wiklund (NOR) finished fifth, which was enough to take home the long distance World Cup Trophy. Miho Takagi (JPN) finished her World Cup season in style, taking home the 1000m World Cup Trophy with a gold medal in the final race.
Former short track skater Valérie Maltais earned her first overall podium with a 3000m bronze Friday at the World Cup in Quebec City, Canada © ISU
Maltais thrives on home crowd
When the Canadian took the ice in the third last pairing, Olympic champion Schouten had already finished her race in 4:01.11. Maltais kept very close to Schouten’s lap times, but eventually had to bow her head in the last two laps, finishing in 4:02.73.
“I was feeling a little bit emotional, a little bit shaky.”
Beune went .11 seconds faster than Maltais in the final pairing to take silver, but that didn’t make a difference for the overall standings and Maltais’ bronze.
“I saw the points were tight, but I was focused on doing my race today. That's the beauty of speed skating, you do what you got to do in the race and you see at the end. Everyone goes, but you don’t have any impact (on what the others do).”
Maltais could hardly believe she was able to take her first World Cup Trophy podium on the newly built, indoor track in Quebec.
“I've been skating for so many years. I've been on the national team since 2007, so it's a lot of time where my family came to see me across the country. And now that I’m in a different sport (long track instead of short track since 2018) and that I can achieve a podium like this today. I never stopped believing in me.”
She also thanked her coach Remmelt Eldering (NED).
“I told him: you were the first person who believed in me when I started long track. He told me I had the potential to be on the podium. I was looking up to the other girls, and I still do. I don't realize it yet. Today I put my best race out there. You either start a little bit too fast or too slow, and when you're in good shape you know how to fight those lap times and that's what I did. I didn't give too much, but I gave the good effort that allowed me to skate a pretty flat race.”
Schouten also enjoyed the Quebec experience.
“This track suits me well. It’s more of a working track. It may sound strange, but here you really have to put the effort in and I’m good at working hard. On faster ice like Salt Lake City, when you start fast you can keep that pace relatively easy because you keep gliding. Here you have to keep on pushing.”
Irene Schouten beat the field by 1.51 seconds to win 3000m gold at the ISU World Cup in Quebec City, Canada © ISU
The World Single Distance Championships will take place on the fast high-altitude track in Calgary (Feb. 15-18), but that doesn’t scare Schouten.
“I’m fit. We’ll fly to Calgary on Monday and hope to put the final pieces of the puzzle together. It’s a different track, of course, but I don’t really bother too much. I also like fast tracks.”
Beune did not qualify for the 3000m at the World Championships, but she will skate the 5000m and the 1500m in Calgary.
“Of course it’s sad that I didn’t qualify for the 3000m, but it is what it is. Today I was happy with my race, a silver medal, so I know I’m good.”
Joy Beune finished second to teammate Irene Schouten in the 3000m at the ISU World Cup in Quebec City, Canada © ISU
Although traveling was tough, Beune was excited about her first Quebec experience.
“The ice is slower than Salt Lake City, of course, but eventually it was faster than I thought. I really like it around here. The track is super beautiful and on Wednesday we went for dinner in Old Quebec. That’s really beautiful.”
For Wiklund, securing the long distance World Cup Trophy — ahead of Martina Sáblíková (CZE), Maltais and Beune — with her fifth-place finish on Friday was a nice boost before the World Championships.
“I think it's a lot of improvement from last week. I tried to go out a little faster. I had no idea how much it was, I just tried to be a bit more offensive. It didn't keep it up all the way in, but physically and technically it's a lot better.
“So far in January, I've had the same amount of sick days as training days. It's for sure not the best way to prepare, but I think about the positive side. If I improve the way I did from last weekend to this weekend, I think I still have a chance, but I have to go into worlds a bit different than last year (when she took the 3000m title). Then, I had a lot of confidence, and now I come a bit from behind.”
Ragne Wiklund secured the long distance ranking with a fifth-place finish at the ISU World Cup in Quebec City, Canada © ISU
Track record for Takagi
Takagi set a new track record in the 1000m, beating the 1:15.83 set by Ivanie Blondin (CAN) in 2022 by 1.64 seconds. Femke Kok (NED) took second place in 1:15.07 and Isabel Grevelt (NED) took the second individual World Cup podium of her career in 1:15.72.
Miho Takagi won 1000m gold at the ISU World Cup in Quebec City, Canada to secure the World Cup Trophy © ISU
Last week, Takagi secured the 1500m World Cup Trophy, taking an unassailable lead over Han Mei (CHN). With her gold in Quebec, she added the 1000m to her tally.
Takagi gave herself an extra challenge on Friday, winning the 3000m B Division race before taking on the A Division 1000m.
“It’s good training for me. The 3000m and 1000m combination gives me a lot of things. I have to skate (technically) good to skate a longer distance. If I (just) use a lot of power I cannot keep up in the last laps.”
Having already secured the 1500m trophy, Takagi will skip the 1500m in Quebec on Sunday to prepare for the World Championships. Kimi Goetz (USA), who decided not to compete in Quebec, finished second in the 1000m ranking while Brittany Bowe (USA) was third after finishing fourth on Friday. Said Bowe:
“Today I definitely went for that top three podium and, yeah, it was a disappointing race.”
Brittany Bowe just missed the 1000m podium at the ISU World Cup in Quebec City, Canada © ISU
Silver medalist Kok, who finished .88 seconds behind Takagi, was content with her race.
“I’m happy that I was able to show another good and stable 1000m race. This was my last 1000m this season, because I didn’t qualify for the World Single Distance Championships (due to a crash at the Dutch nationals), and I really wanted to show that I belong up there.”
Femke Kok was happy with silver at the final 1000m World Cup race of the season in Quebec City, Canada © ISU
Grevelt, who did qualify for the World Single Distance Championships, was happy to show she has a place among the best female 1000m skaters on the planet.
“This is nice. It’s been about a year-and-a-half since I first got on to the World Cup podium. I already skated a personal best at Salt Lake City last week. It’s as if I rediscover the Isabel who can skate a good 1000m, not that I lost her entirely, but I’m developing again. This shows that I’ve improved again and that’s a good feeling with the Worlds coming up.”
Isabel Grevelt won 1000m bronze at the ISU World Cup in Quebec City, Canada on Friday © ISU
For all information about the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series, please visit the webpage here.
World Cup Standings - Men
World Cup Standings - Women
All Media Accreditations details and deadlines for the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series can be found here.
Where to watch
Viewers will be able to watch the World Cup sessions via their national broadcaster/channel.
For countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream with English commentary on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to watch webpage here.
Subscribe to the ISU YouTube Channel to receive all the latest videos and follow the conversation with #SkatingSkating.
ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating Series events 2023/24:
Nov 10-12, 2023 Obihiro /JPN
Nov 17-19, 2023 Beijing /CHN
Dec 01-03, 2023 Stavanger /NOR
Dec 08-10, 2023 Tomaszów Mazowiecki /POL
Jan 26-28, 2024 Salt Lake City /USA
Feb 02-04, 2024 Québec /CAN
Stay connected with the ISU:
ISU Website: ISU News
ISU World Cup Speed Skating Series
ISU Newsletter: Subscribe to our weekly Newsletter to get the latest news and press releases
