Quebec’s Maltais wins bronze for Canada in women’s 3,000 metres at Milan-Cortina Games

Canada's Valérie Maltais celebrates with her bronze medal in the women's 3000m speed skating competition during the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Milan, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Canadian speedskater Valérie Maltais has won the bronze medal in the women’s 3,000 metres at the Milan Cortina Games.

Maltais, from La Baie, Que., finished in three minutes 56.93 seconds while skating in a blistering eighth pairing with gold medallist Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy.

It was Maltais’s first individual Olympic medal, and Canada’s first medal of the Milan Cortina Games.

Lollobrigida’s Olympic-record time of 3:54.28 held up as the winner, while Ragne Wiklund of Norway was second in 3:56.54.

Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann, who won bronze in the event at the 2022 Beijing Games, skated in the final pair but couldn’t beat Maltais’s time and settled for fifth.