Canada's long track speed skaters roll into a new season

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With the next Winter Olympics now just 15 months away, it looks like long track speed skating will once again be a major source of medals for Canada.

In 2022, Canadian long trackers won five of the country's 26 medals in Beijing, trailing only the snowboarders (six) for the most in any one discipline. And the skaters seem poised for another big haul next winter in northern Italy.

Canada won a national-record 10 medals at the world single distances championships last February in Calgary, trailing only the powerhouse Netherlands (13). The single distances worlds are very similar to the Olympics in terms of the races offered, though Canada's only gold medals came in the two events that are not on the Olympic program: the men's and women's team sprints.

Still, eight medals across the 14 events that do have a place on the Olympic program is pretty good, and several Canadians stood out.

Ivanie Blondin and Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, who had a hand in the team sprint victories, each went home with three medals. Blondin took silver in the women's team pursuit with Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais (the same trio that won Canada's lone long-track gold at the 2022 Olympics) and added another silver in the individual mass start. Gélinas-Beaulieu claimed silver in the men's mass start and bronze in the team pursuit.

WATCH | CBC Sports previews the new speed skating season:

Canada's other multi-medal winners were Laurent Dubreuil (gold in the men's team sprint, silver in the solo 500m) and Weidemann. The 2022 Olympic closing ceremony flag-bearer took silver in the women's 3,000m to go with that silver in the team pursuit. 

The 2023-24 season ended with the sprint world championships and the allround world championships, which both take place in even-numbered years and ask skaters to compete in multiple races over a range of distances for one set of medals. Dubreuil took the men's bronze at the sprint worlds, while Maltais and Blondin finished eighth and ninth in the women's standings at the more gruelling allrounds at the same arena in Germany.

Canada is also coming off a successful World Cup season, winning 23 medals (including five gold) across the six tour stops to finish fourth in total medals behind the Netherlands, the United States and Japan. Maltais and Blondin placed 1-2 in the women's mass start standings while Dubreuil and 2018 Olympic gold medallist Ted-Jan Bloemen were runners-up in the men's 500m and long distances tables, respectively.

A new World Cup season begins tonight in Japan, and if last week was any indication, Canadians should remain a fixture on the podium. They racked up 12 medals (including three gold) over the course of three days at the Four Continents championships — sort of a World Cup prep meet for non-European skaters.

WATCH | Dubreuil wins Four Continents bronze in men's 1,000m:

Blondin led the way with two gold medals (in the mass start and team sprint) and a pair of bronze (1,500m and 3,000m). Graeme Fish won Canada's only men's gold, in the 5,000, while Dubreuil picked up three medals: silver in the 500, bronze in the 1,000 and bronze in the team sprint.

Of course, the competition will get tougher this week as the Netherlands and other European nations drop in and everyone raises their game for the World Cup opener.