Canadian speed skater Béatrice Lamarche 5th in women’s 1,000 metres of her Olympic debut

A trio of Canadian women made their Olympic speed skating debuts on Monday in the 1,000 metres, with Béatrice Lamarche leading the way in fifth.

Skating 14th of 15 pairs, she reached the finish in one minute 14.73 seconds to beat Japan’s Rio Yamada. Lamarche was sixth overall through 200 metres, moved to second after 600 and sat third before the final pairing of Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands and Japan’s Miho Takagi, the 2022 Olympic champion in Beijing.

“That [race] was so revealing of who she is as a person, as an athlete,” CBC Sports analyst Anastasia Bucsis said of Lamarche. “She’s had a lot of pressure on her shoulders. I think that was near perfect.

“She skated so well. She focused on what was in her control and kept her cool.”

Leerdam went on to win the gold medal in 1:12.31, taking the Olympic record from teammate Femke Kok, who went 1:12.59 minutes earlier for silver at Milano Speed Skating Stadium. There have been three Olympic records in three speed skating races so far in the temporary arena built for the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.

Takagi took bronze in 1:13.95, while 37-year-old Brittany Bowe, in her final Games for the United States, was fourth (1:14.55).

Bucsis said Leerdom, who captured Olympic silver four years ago and was chasing her first Olympic gold on Monday, is perhaps the biggest speed skater star in years. She also won three of the four World Cup 1,000m races she entered this season.

“She is the real deal,” Bucsis added. “And the amount of pressure that was on her shoulders just shows her character.”

Leerdam’s fiancé, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, was seated in the second row. When Leerdam was finished her race, she went over to the sideboards in front of where Paul was and paused, crying. She blew a kiss and made a heart shape with her hands while looking up toward him.

Lamarche’s teammates, Carolina Hiller-Donnelly and Rose Laliberté-Roy, were 26th (1:17.156) and 27th (1:17.150).

Lamarche, 27, will also race in the women’s 500 this Saturday and the 1,500 on Feb. 20 alongside teammate Valérie Maltais, who grabbed a bronze medal in the women’s 3,000 on Saturday.

Lamarche’s breakthrough season began with a pair of Canadian titles in October. The Quebec City skater earned her first individual-distance World Cup medal the following month, taking bronze at the season opener in Salt Lake City.

Her personal best of 1:12.77 was just shy of the 1:12.68 Canadian record, held by Christine Nesbitt since Jan. 28, 2012.

Lamarche’s progress through the 2025-26 campaign is a result  of mental work she began four years ago when she was struggling with anxiety and constant comparison with her competitors.

“I had a hard time comparing myself to others,” Lamarche said in a recent story on the Canadian Olympic Committee website. “My goal wasn’t necessarily to be good; it was to beat everyone else.”

Her perspective changed while working with a mental performance professional, and Lamarche now has a more calm approach to competition.

“It helped me refocus on myself and stop worrying about what others were doing,” she said. “If others performed well, it didn’t take away from my own performance.”