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Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin are some of Canada’s dependable, elite grinders, but we don’t have enough.David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
The Olympics have always had an obsession with the new. New sells T-shirts and ad space, but new doesn’t always perform.
Canada is experiencing a little trouble with the new in Milan. Fortunately, there is experience to go along with all the innocence.
On Tuesday, Canada’s women’s speed-skating team pursuit trio – Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais – successfully defended their Olympic crown.
Team pursuit is a punishing event. On final days, competitors must race two 3,000-metre elimination races within the space of two hours.
Speed skaters win second consecutive Olympic gold in women’s team pursuit
A lot of teams burn themselves out in the semis. This particular Canadian band has been together for eight years – almost as long as the Beatles. They’re too smart for that.
“We’re a team of madames,” Maltais said after the quarterfinal. “We know how to do these things.”
On Tuesday, they did those things.
They let a U.S. team run out first in the semi. The few Americans in the crowd clued in after several laps that their side had a chance. But just as the U.S. fans were thinking that, Canada began to reel their side back in.
In the final, it was the same routine. The Dutch went out hard. Their supporters, who were in the vast majority, and who are the most knowledgeable speed-skating fans in the world, thought they had it. That point was exactly when the Canadians pulled them back. By the end there was no doubt.
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Speed skating, both long- and short-track, so far accounts for half of Canada’s medals in Milan.Luca Bruno/The Associated Press
“It’s an honour to be in that position as returning Olympic champions. It’s the same team. There’s some sense every single time we go to the line that we’re calm, collected and one unit,” Blondin told reporters after the win.
What was the plan?
“I’m like, ‘Let’s go skate six laps, no need to exchange lanes, and go home after,’” Maltais said.
Weidemann, Blondin and Maltais are now the Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman (in no particular order) of the Canadian Winter Olympic team – a championship dynasty.
Elsewhere, there are a lot of other familiar names doing the business, including Mikaël Kingsbury and Éliot Grondin.
The newcomers who are succeeding – freestyler Megan Oldham, short-tracker Courtney Sarault – are doing so in bunches.
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For Canadians, this Olympics is starting to look a bit like a thought cloud. The name and discipline of every Canadian Olympian appears, but a few are larger than others.
First off, there’s speed skating. Across the two disciplines – long-track and short-track – speed skating represents half of Canada’s medals.
Then there is the secular long-track trinity. As a team and as individuals, Weidemann, Blondin and Maltais represent six Olympic podiums in three different Games. They aren’t household names, but they are the sort of quiet professionals that make an Olympic program’s engine turn over.
Canada needs hockey golds and big Summer McIntosh-sized stars, but it needs elite grinders as well. It’s the lack of that quality that is suppressing totals in Milan, as compared with Beijing or Pyeongchang. In pro terms, it’s a depth problem.
From a distance in time, Canada’s performance in any Olympics comes down to two things: the number of medals and a feeling.
Vancouver was this country’s best Winter Olympics, by both measures.
Beijing failed the vibe test – COVID-19 is to blame – but it wasn’t a disaster because of the likes of those three. In the midst of a bummer of a Games, they showed up to work.
Milan is also failing the Canadian vibe test.
In order to do well on it, you need to get off to a fast start and capture imaginations. Though things have improved markedly in the last couple of days from a performance standpoint, the vibes are still mediocre. Only a double gold in hockey will change this.
Meanwhile, and regardless of everything else going on, the Olympic dependable are putting in some work. It is celebrated, but maybe not enough.
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