Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann settles for fourth-place finish at speedskating worlds

HEERENVEEN, Netherlands – Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann settled for a fourth-place finish at the ISU world speedskating championships on Sunday.

She missed the podium by less than four seconds in the only women’s 5,000-metre race this season. The Ottawa skater was clocked in six minutes 56.181 seconds at the Thialf Ice Arena.

Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won gold, Russia’s Natalia Voronina took silver and Carlijn Achtereekte of the Netherlands earned bronze.

“I’m happy with how hard I skated today,” Weidemann said. “It obviously wasn’t the result I was hoping for but there were a lot of positives from the race. Not a single lap came easy today, but sometimes it doesn’t in speedskating.”

Valerie Maltais of Saguenay, Que., was seventh.

Sweden’s Nils van der Poel set a world best of 12:32.949 in the men’s 10K, taking nearly a second off the previous mark set by Canada’s Graeme Fish at last season’s worlds in Salt Lake City.

Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands and Alexander Rumyantsev joined the Swede on the podium. Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen was sixth and Toronto’s Jordan Belchos was eighth.

Connor Howe of Canmore, Alta., was sixth in the men’s 1,500. Dutch skaters swept the podium with Kjeld Nuis taking gold ahead of Thomas Krol and Patrick Roest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2021.