(Sportcom) – Long-distance speed skater Valérie Maltais, a subscriber to the first step of the podium in the team pursuit, won her first individual medal of the season when she finished second in the mass start of Tomaszow Mazowiecki’s World Cup. Sunday in Poland.
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While the favorites kept observing each other in the peloton, Maltais slipped away from them in the second half of the race. Once alone at the top, the La Baie skater was joined by Japanese Momoka Horikawa.
The two leaders exchanged relays as the pursuit slowly got organized. The 30-yard gap quickly widened to nearly 70 yards in four laps out of 16.
With two laps to go, the leading pair saw that victory was within reach and both skaters upped the pace. The Quebecer wedged behind the Japanese and then tried to pass her down the stretch, but Horikawa held on. Behind, Ontario’s Ivanie Blondin won the peloton sprint to join the Maltais on the podium.
In the men’s 1,000 meters, Laurent Dubreuil got off to a great start, but was lacking pace with around 300 meters to go. The Olympic runner-up in the specialty finished tenth, 1.24 seconds behind the winner, Dutchman Wesly Djis, author of a course record of 1:8.52.
Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu also finished 14th on these 1000 meters (+1.37 seconds).