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Valérie Maltais

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Valérie Maltais
Valerie Maltais competing in 2019.
Personal information
Born (1990-07-04) July 4, 1990 (age 34)
La Baie, Quebec, Canada
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight62 kg (137 lb)
WebsiteValerieMaltais.com
Sport
CountryCanada
SportSpeed skating
Event3000 m
ClubF-18 La Baie
Medal record
Representing  Canada
Women's speed skating
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Beijing Team pursuit
World Single Distances Championships
Gold medal – first place 2023 Heerenveen Team pursuit
Silver medal – second place 2021 Heerenveen Team pursuit
Silver medal – second place 2024 Calgary Team pursuit
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Salt Lake City Team pursuit
Four Continents Championships
Gold medal – first place 2023 Quebec 3000 m
Gold medal – first place 2023 Quebec Mass start
Gold medal – first place 2023 Quebec Team pursuit
Gold medal – first place 2024 Salt Lake City 3000 m
Gold medal – first place 2024 Salt Lake City Team pursuit
Women's short-track speed skating
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2014 Sochi 3000 m relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Shanghai 3000 m
Silver medal – second place 2010 Sofia 3000 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2012 Shanghai Overall
Silver medal – second place 2013 Debrecen 3000 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2014 Montreal 3000 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2016 Seoul 3000 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Sheffield 3000 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Shanghai 1000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Montreal Overall
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Montreal 1000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Montreal 3000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Montreal 3000 m relay
World Team Championships
Silver medal – second place 2010 Bormio Team

Valérie Maltais (born July 4, 1990) is a Canadian short track speed skater and speed skater. She has won six world championship medals, including finishing second overall in 2012.

Career

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Early career

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She began skating at the age of 6 and, in 2009, was the Canadian Champion in the 1500m. In that same year, she received a bronze medal in relay at the World Short Track Championships.[1] She was set to compete for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in the Ladies' 3000m relay.[2][3] Maltais did not compete in the relay however but did compete in the 1,500 m where she finished fourteenth.

Post-Olympics, Maltais succeeded at the 2012 World Championships. She won a bronze medal in a photo finish in the 1,000 m. With her success, she qualified for the 3,000 m superfinal, where she lapped her entire opposition and won the gold medal. Due to her results, she also won the silver medal in the overall standings at the competition.[4] In the finals of the relay, however, teammate Marie-Ève Drolet fell and put the Canadians in fourth place, and Maltais just missed winning a fourth medal at the event.

2014 Sochi Olympics

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Going into the 2014 Winter Olympics, Maltais was no longer a rookie Olympic competitor, though she still found herself as the youngest member of the women's short track team at those games.[5] At the previous games she had not been invited to skate on the relay team and says that she was paralyzed with nerves, whereas going into these games she now found strength in her favour 1,000 and 1,500 m metre events where she liked leading from the front. Maltais talked about her strategy, saying that "Last year, I spent more time at the front, and I think that it's a strategy that works well for me. I have to learn to change my laps and to better control my speed, but I think that this could be a good strategy." This strategy helped her at the national trials, and Maltais competed in all three individual events and the relay in Sochi.[5]

2018 Winter Olympics

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In August 2017, Maltais was named to Canada's 2018 Winter Olympics team.[6][7]

2022 Winter Olympics

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In January 2022, Maltais was named to her first Olympic team in long track speed skating.[8][9][10] Maltais would go on to win the gold medal as part of the team pursuit event.[11][12] In doing so, she became only the fourth athlete to win Olympic medals in both short- and long-track speed skating, following Eric Flaim, Jorien ter Mors and Ruslan Zakharov.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Speed-skating Canada
  2. ^ Vancouver 2010 Profile
  3. ^ CTV on "Team Canada"
  4. ^ "Charles Hamelin wins silver in 1,500-metres at worlds". CBC Sports. March 11, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Manon Gilbert (January 29, 2014). "Valérie Maltais no longer afraid to skate into Olympic limelight". CBC Sports.
  6. ^ Nichols, Paula (August 30, 2017). "10 short track speed skaters nominated to Team Canada for PyeongChang 2018". olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  7. ^ "Gold medallist Hamelin to lead Canada's 2018 short-track team". sportsnet.ca/. Sportsnet. August 30, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  8. ^ Nichols, Paula (January 17, 2022). "16 long track speed skaters nominated to Team Canada for Beijing 2022". www.olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  9. ^ "Bloemen, Dubreuil leads Canada's long-track speedskaters into Beijing". Canadian Press. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. January 17, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  10. ^ "Speed skating Olympians Blondin, Dubreuil front Canada's long track team for Beijing". www.cbc.ca/. CBC Sports. January 17, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  11. ^ Boynton, Sean (February 15, 2022). "Canada wins gold medal in women's team pursuit speed skating at Beijing Olympics". Global News. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  12. ^ "Canada captures gold in Olympic women's speedskating team pursuit". www.sportsnet.ca/. Sportsnet. February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  13. ^ Nichols, Paula (February 15, 2022). "Blondin, Maltais, Weidemann win team pursuit gold at Beijing 2022". olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
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