Canada wins bronze in women's team pursuit at speed skating World Cup

Canada skated to bronze in the women's team pursuit at the speed skating World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on Friday.

Canadian men just miss podium with season-best result at event in Poland

Canada's women pursuit team skated to bronze at the World Cup event in Poland on Friday. (Czarek Sokolowski/The Associated Press)

Canada skated to bronze in the women's team pursuit at the speed skating World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, on Friday.

The medal was the second consecutive for the Canadian squad consisting of Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Keri Morrison.

Japan took home gold for the second week in a row with a time of three minutes 2.49 seconds. Russia (3:04.1) edged out Canada (3:05.7) for silver. The same three countries shared the podium at last week's World cup race.

Watch Canada earn its second team pursuit medal of the season:

Canada skates to bronze in women's team pursuit

6 years ago
Duration 5:16
Canada's Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Keri Morrison won a bronze medal in the women's team pursuit event at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland on Friday.

Canada is third in the World Cup rankings behind front-running Japan and Russia.

"Today was a real fight, but it just shows how strong our team is by coming out with a medal after a hard-fought race," said Morrison following the race.

"I'm really proud of this team," stated Weidemann. "We've come a long way since last year. We still have a lot to work on, but I'm really excited with our results so far this year and what's to come in the future."

Meanwhile, the men's pursuit team barely missed the podium, finishing in fourth place.

Toronto's Jordan Belchos, Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary and Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu of Sherbrooke Que., were just over two seconds behind the bronze medallists from Russia.

Japan also won gold in this event, with Norway taking silver. The three medallists finished just 0.32 seconds apart from each other.

The race marked Canada's best finish of the season after fifth-place results at each of the first to World Cup races.

Watch all the speed skating action from Poland:

ISU Speed Skating World Cup: Tomaszow Mazowiecki Day 1

6 years ago
Duration 3:43:32
ISU Speed Skating World Cup from Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland

Ten other Canadian skaters also competed in individual races on Friday, garnering mixed results.

The competition continues Saturday with the 500-m and 1,500-m finals, while those for the ladies 5,000m, men's 10,000m and team sprint are set for Sunday. CBC Sports will be live streaming the races beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET on both days.