Canada won its first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s team pursuit speed skating at the Beijing Winter Games on Tuesday, after a stunning crash by Japan.
Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais were trailing the Japanese throughout the gold medal final race, although Canada had begun to close the gap after Weidemann moved into the lead position. Read more: 2022 Olympics medal count — Here’s who has won during the Beijing Games It still appeared that Japan — the defending champions from the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang — would earn a repeat gold, with the team skating in perfect precision throughout.
But the final lap saw Nana Takagi stumble and fall as Japan rounded their final bend before the finish line, sending her sliding into the wall as Canada clinched the gold with a time of two minutes 53.44 seconds – an Olympic record.
All three skaters must cross the finish line together in the team pursuit. “Unfortunately our race ended with a fall … but I don’t regret everything we’ve done to get here,” Takagi’s sister Miho told reporters, at one point lifting her eyes and blinking back tears.