Canadian women take team pursuit silver at speed skating World Cup opener

Ivanie Blondin earned her second medal in as many days at the speed skating World Cup opener in Obihiro, Japan, on Saturday, linking up with Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais to take the women's team pursuit silver.

The gold medallists in the event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics clocked in at 2 minutes, 59.25 seconds, which trailed Japan by 1.22 seconds for first.

The Netherlands - which Canada was paired up against - took bronze with a time of 3:01.29.

WATCH | Canada skates to team pursuit silver:

Canada debuted a new strategy in Japan, opting to utilize Maltais at the front of the pack throughout the race instead of executing in-race exchanges.

"We're pretty stoked," said Weidemann to Speed Skating Canada. "It was our first time trying this new strategy where we don't exchange, so we weren't super sure what to expect. We were very nervous to go out and try something new, but we're very happy with today's result. We felt very powerful and stayed in-synch very well. We've often struggled off the start, myself especially because I'm a little slower, but we nailed that aspect of it today.

"We're happy to get this first one done and are looking forward to improving for the next one. The Japanese have a great team, and we have a one-second gap to close on them, so a few weeks of training and perfecting the strategy will hopefully help us push for the top of the podium again."

Japan's victory marks the first for a trio other than Canada since December of 2019, which was also won by Japan.

Blondin and Weidemann, both of Ottawa, and Maltais of La Baie, Que., had won eight straight World Cup team pursuit races in the Team Pursuit over the 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons.

While Blondin earned her first individual