Canada’s long-track speed skating team opens its World Cup season Friday in Beijing with two members of its Olympic gold-medal women’s pursuit trio absent and several established stars weighing how much longer they will compete.

According to CBC’s Jesse Campigotto, Isabelle Weidemann is sitting out the first four World Cups, all overseas, to recharge. Ivanie Blondin, who was named to Canada’s fall World Cup team, does not appear on the opener’s official entry list after also missing last month’s national championships.

Their absences follow a five-medal performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, where every Canadian long-track medal came from athletes aged 30 or older. Canada tied Italy and the United States for the second-highest medal total behind the Netherlands, which won 13.

Weidemann, Blondin and Valérie Maltais defeated the world champion Dutch team to win their second consecutive Olympic women’s pursuit title. Maltais also earned bronze in the 1,500 and 3,000 metres, while Blondin took her second straight mass-start silver. Laurent Dubreuil completed Canada’s haul with bronze in the men’s 500 metres.

Maltais, 35, is committed to the full World Cup tour and is targeting her first individual world championship medal. She already has five world medals in team pursuit, including gold in 2023. Although she said Milan-Cortina would be her final Olympics, she has only hinted that this season could be her last.

Blondin, also 35, likewise described those Games as her last Olympics, but her broader competitive plans remain uncertain. Weidemann, 31, could return for the North American stops in Salt Lake City and Calgary in the new year, ahead of February’s single-distances world championships in Beijing. Her exact plans are unclear.

Dubreuil, 33, plans to race the full World Cup season and has not ruled out the 2030 Olympics. Fellow Canadian Olympic champion Ted-Jan Bloemen has retired at 39.

Among the younger returning Olympians, 28-year-old Béatrice Lamarche is skipping the fall World Cups to concentrate on medical studies. She is expected back for the North American leg after earning her first individual World Cup medal last season.

CBC says this weekend’s races will stream on CBC Gem and the CBC Sports website, beginning at 4 a.m. ET Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Sources