Canadian Speedskater Valérie Maltais Delivers On A Promise To Herself At 2026 Olympics

Canadian speedskater Valérie Maltais said she promised herself she would take two years to get in the best shape possible and become the best skater she possibly could before hanging up her skates for the final time.

On Saturday, her grueling workout routine paid off.

The 35-year-old won bronze in the women’s 3,000-metre race in Milan, earning Canada its first Olympic medal of the Winter Games, following a breathtaking race against Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida who, surprisingly, walked away with the gold medal.

The race, which had 20 paired athletes race against each other, saw Maltais and Lollobrigida skating nearly in unison for almost the entirety of the race, before the Italian sped up down the final stretch to fly past her Canadian competitor.

Maltais’ assistant coach, Muncef Ouardi, said he did not see that coming since Lollobrigida had not performed well until this point in the season. But he said Maltais managed to stay focused and to keep her speed, which gave an incredible result.

“Valérie achieved her best race in her entire career,” he said.

Maltais and Lollobrigida were the eighth pair of skaters to race, which meant that two more pairs of immensely talented skaters — including Canadian Olympic bronze medalist in 2022, Isabelle Weidemann — could ruin Maltais’ chances of getting on the podium.

Maltais said she knew the competition would lead to a nail-biter. But she said she was prepared to turn on the heat, and that is how she prepared for her race. Ouardi said it had an influence on the others that came after her because it added to the pressure.

Even then, Maltais thought that she might end up finishing fourth or fifth.

“Man, it was stressful until the end,” she said.

Norwegian Ragne Wiklund, in the ninth pair, beat Maltais’ score and pushed her to the third place. As for Weidemann, she contended with a slow start and, although she picked up speed near the end, she finished in fifth place.

Maltais said she had to squint to see the numbers on the screen.

“They were written so small, I couldn’t see anything.”

And then, she said she blacked out for a moment.

She had won a medal. And, for the first time in her Olympic career, she had done it alone.

“Today is not a defeat — it is a huge victory for me,” she said.

It is a third Olympic medal for Maltais, who had previously won gold in Beijing in 2022 alongside Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin in the team pursuit. She won silver in Sochi 2014 as part of the relay team when the La Baie, Que., native was competing in short track.

But for her fifth and final Olympics, Maltais is prepared to give it her all.

“Last night, I told myself, ‘Whatever the results, don’t forget to be proud of yourself. You did everything in your power to be ready,'” she said.

In the last year, Maltais said coaches challenged her and intentionally made her “uncomfortable.”

For instance, she said she did heat training sessions and spent lots more time biking — she told La Presse she cycled no less than 12,000 kilometres last summer.

“I was made to be uncomfortable, but it made me step up and it made me a better athlete,” she said. “We took some risk, but it was calculated risk.”

“And today, I delivered the performance I needed to deliver.”

Her assistant coach said the idea was to increase the volume of low intensity training to help her get to the finish on a strong note — something she has struggled with in the past.

“It was many more hours of training, but she had to persevere,” said Ouardi.

Maltais became teary as she explained how, in addition to all the physical training, she can count on the support of her parents and her husband, former speedskater Jordan Belchos, even pushing back plans to start a family — until she retires from speedskating.

“Today, what makes me savour even more this medal is all the process behind it.”

Her father, Gérard Maltais, was beaming with pride after the race.

“She was on a mission. She wanted her medal, and she can say, ‘Mission accomplished,'” he told Postmedia. “But the mission is not over.”

The Games are only beginning, and there are more races to be won.

She is expected to skate in the women’s team pursuit on Feb. 17 and the 1,500-metre race on Feb. 20, before closing her Olympic career with the women’s mass start on Feb. 21.