Min Sun Kim (KOR) won her second gold of the Four Continents Speed Skating Championships on Sunday, adding the 1000m title to her 500m crown. But Valérie Maltais (CAN) went one better - the 32-year-old anchored her younger teammates Béatrice Lamarche and Maddison Pearman to gold in the Team Pursuit on the final day, having already won the 3000m and the Mass Start.
Kim’s first lap dash makes the difference
The women’s competition on the final day started with the 1000m. After already having seized 500m gold, Min Sun Kim was one of the favourites, but Yekaterina Aydova (KAZ), with the fastest personal best of all skaters on the start list, would provide a stern test for Kim.
When Aydova took the ice in the penultimate pair, Lamarche had set the fastest time so far in 1 minute and 17.39s. Posting a time of 1:16.19, Aydova was more than a second faster than the Canadian, but Kim was yet to come.
Min Sun Kim (KOR) posted the fastest first full lap and held her pace to add 1000m gold to her 500m title. @ ISU
“I looked at the times of the other skaters and I thought, I really have to give it my best,” the Korean said.
Kim opened slightly slower than Aydova but accelerated soon afterwards, and with a time of 27.77s, the Korean was the only one to post a sub-28s first lap.
“In the beginning my speed wasn’t very good, but after 200m, I accelerated by pushing better in the corners,” she explained.
And although Aydova had a very good final lap, Kim did not give away her advantage, taking gold by a margin of 0.13 seconds.
The Kazak skater knew where she had lost her race.
“What can you say? It’s such a small gap, that’s so sad,” Aydova commented. “Kim did a really fast first lap. That’s what you need for this distance. If you have a good first lap, you can pull it through in the second.
“When I race I sometimes don’t position myself well, a little more to the back or a little more to the front makes a lot of difference to be able to push hard. When I found my right position in the second lap, it was already too late.”
“There’s athletes who are really strong and you have athletes who are more technical. For me it’s better when the ice is really fast, because I rely more on technique. I don’t have too much power. For a more technical skater, this was really tough ice.”
Yekaterina Aydova (KAZ) had a better start than Kim in the 1000m but fell behind to take her second silver of the weekend. @ ISU
In the end, Aydova looked back on a great weekend, having won silver medals in both the 1500m and the 1000m.
“Now all the weight is off my shoulders. I don’t go home empty-handed, but now I’m looking forward for the next races [at the World Cup in Calgary next week].”
Bronze for Lamarche
Behind Kim and Aydova, Lamarche went home with a bronze medal, after already having won 3000m bronze on Friday.
“The unexpected medal was in the 3000m,” the 24-year-old Canadian said.
Béatrice Lamarche (CAN) sat out her 1500m speciality but still came away from Quebec City with three medals. @ ISU
Although she’s a 1500m specialist, Lamarche did not compete in the event on Saturday.
“In the next two weeks, I get to skate two 1500m in the last two World Cups in the fall, but because my 1000m was not as good as I wanted, I wanted to improve it here.
“Today was the day to focus on the execution and the technique. I’m very happy with my race because of the way I skated it.”
Maltais anchors Canada to Team Pursuit gold
Valérie Maltais is no stranger to Team Pursuit glory, but the Olympic champion faced a different challenge in Quebec City as she lined up alongside two new teammates in Lamarche and Maddison Pearman. Despite the unfamiliar line-up, Canada took gold in 3 minutes and 6.87 seconds.
“It was definitely different,” Maltais said. “But I think it was good to work on a different strategy together. We knew each other, but we never skated a Team Pursuit together. I started in 2019 doing the Team Pursuit and Isabelle [Weidemann] and Ivanie [Blondin] are the only two I ever skated with.
“I think it was a pretty decent race. We need to be proud. There’s so many small details that you need to execute well, the exchanges especially.”
“Today, it's part of a new cycle, and having different people for the Team Pursuit. Still, as long as we can, Isabel, Ivanie and I will keep doing the Team Pursuit, but I think it's good to have a back-up, if an injury happens or something. I shared a lot of details that I've learned skating with the girls.”
Valérie Maltais, centre, led an unfamiliar Canada trio to Team Pursuit gold to add to her Mass Start and 3000m titles. @ ISU
Maltais looked back on the most prolific speed skating weekend of her career, winning three Four Continents titles.
“I'm really happy, not only because of the result, but also because of the way I executed my races. I needed that a little bit this weekend, just to have some good energy for the next few weeks.”
China took Team Pursuit silver in 3:11.19, just 0.08 seconds ahead of bronze medalists Korea. Like Canada, China also skated in an unusual line-up: Yang Binyu normally skates for China in the World Cups, but Chen Xiangyu and Li Leming don’t.
Despite this unusual set-up, Yang was happy with the race.
“When we race, we are together like a team, like one person.”
Li was grateful to get a chance to skate: “I’m really thankful for my teammates, who play important role. We won the medal together.”
Schedule
Friday December 2nd, 2022: 500m (Men and Women), 3000m (Women), 5000m (Men), Team Sprint (Men and Women)
Saturday December 3rd, 2022: 1500m (Men and Women), Mass Start (Men and Women)
Sunday December 4th, 2022: 1000m (Men and Women), Team Pursuit (Men and Women)
Where to Watch
Viewers will be able to watch the races via their national broadcasters’ channel. For countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to Watch webpage.
Subscribe to the ISU Newsletter to receive the latest information about events, and to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive notifications when live streams start or new videos are published.
For further information on ISU Speed Skating visit https://www.isu.org/speed-skating
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