Team Pursuit (6 laps), Women

Based on previous seasons, defending champions Japan were the team to beat. They had won the 2019 and 2020 world titles, missing 2021 only due to their absence at these championships due to Japanese travel restrictions. In their absence, the Dutch had claimed the title, and moreover had 2022 champions Ireen Wüst and Irene Schouten to boot. In the 2021/22 World Cup season, none of the three races had been won by these two countries, however, as Canada had won all three, making them also one of the title candidates. Unsurprisingly, the three fastest times in the quarter-finals were posted by these three, with Japan beating their own Olympic Record to boot. ROC was the fourth team to qualify.

Japan did not have to outdo itself in their semi-final, as ROC seemed to throw in the towel quickly, leaving their opponents to finish in a relatively slow 2:58.93. In the second semi, the Dutch seemed eager to improve their mediocre quarter-finals time. While they managed to achieve that, the Canadians took the lead after three laps and won by a second.

With Marijke Groenewoud substituting for Antoinette de Jong, the Dutch managed to hold on to win the bronze medal race, clearly leading over the ROC team from start to finish. The final, though, was a much closer affair. The Japanese again started quickly, leading by at least half a second for the first laps. At the bell, the Canadians were only 0.39 behind, and just 0.32 with half a lap to go. Going into the final curve, Japan’s Nana Takagi stumbled and fell, instantly losing her team’s chances at gold (since the time of the third team member determines the final time).

Canada thus claimed their first victory in the event. For Isabelle Weidemann, it was her third medal of the Games, after bronze (3,000 m) and silver (5,000 m). It was her teammate Valérie Maltais’s second Olympic medal. She had won her first in another sport, winning silver in the 2014 short-track speed skating relay event. This made her the second woman to win Olympic medals in both sports, after Jorien ter Mors.