Canada wins silver in men’s team pursuit at Calgary World Cup

In front of a home crowd in Calgary, the team of Connor Howe, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu and Hayden Mayeur raced to silver in the men’s team pursuit on the opening day of the ISU Speed Skating World Cup.

The Canadian men crossed the line with a time of 3:36.485 at the Olympic Oval. They finished the 8-lap race just four one-hundredths of a second off the Canadian national record of 3:36.44, established by Ted-Jan Bloemen, Denny Morrison and Ben Donnelly in 2017. Friday’s result was even more impressive considering it was the first time the trio skated the team pursuit together. 

Only the American team finished ahead, with a time of 3:35.925. The Norwegian team completed the podium with bronze in 3:39.887.

“It gives us lots of encouragement,” Howe said following the race. “This year we’re trying out new things a bit, a new team with middle-distance guys to get to speed easier. If you can’t start fast enough, you can’t make up the time.”

“It seems to be working. If we think that’s good we’ll work on that towards the next Olympics and be better contenders.”

It was a milestone World Cup medal for both Gélinas-Beaulieu and Mayeur. Gélinas-Beaulieu captured his first in the distance, while Mayeur reached the World Cup podium for the first time in his career.

In other results, Howe posted a time of 1:43.682 to finish sixth in the men’s 1500m final. In the women’s 3000m event, two-time Olympic medallist Ivanie Blondin finished just off the podium in fourth position with a time of 3:59.747. Valérie Maltais finished sixth in 4:01.870.

Action continues until Sunday at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary. On Saturday medals will be handed out in the women’s 1500m and Team Pursuit, along with the men’s 500m and 5000m.