Christine Nesbitt
Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., continues to show she's the fastest skater among Canada's women, even on sticky ice, claiming the title of 3,000-metre champion at the 2012 Canadian Long Track single-distance championships at Calgary's Olympic Oval.
Meanwhile, Mathieu Giroux, of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que., won his first Canadian title in the 1,500-metre race.
Nesbitt, who already has six individual World Cup medals this season, won the 3,000 at Calgary in a time of 4:07.93, beating Winnipeg's Cindy Klassen (4:09.52) and Brittany Schussler (4:10.46).
"We were all talking about how slow it was," said Nesbitt. "None of us skated particularly fast or impressive times... But I was really happy with the fight I showed at the end. I'm still learning to be a 3K skater. I haven't really put together a 3K race that shows where I am physically," said Nesbitt, who gets much more practice winning 1,000 and 1,500-metre races
Giroux won the men's 1,500 metres in 1:45.29, edging out Denny Morrison (1:45.64), of Fort St. John, B.C., by 0.35 seconds, and Regina's Lucas Makowsky (1:45.93) by 0.64 seconds.
In a separate competition for domestic ranking -- Canada Cup grouping races -- Nick Goplen, from B.C., was first (1:51.78) in the men's 1,500-metre race. Daniel Dubreuil from Quebec was second and Saskatchewan's Elliott Nelson was third. In the women's 3,000-metre race, B.C.'s Sarah Pousette took the top spot (4:31.68), followed by Ontario's Isabelle Weidemann and Noemie Fiset from Quebec.
The Canadian championships and Canada Cup #2 continue Friday. Those races will feature the men's 1,000 and 5,000 metres, and the women's 1,500 metres. On Saturday, the women will compete in the 1,000 and 5,000 metres, and the men in the 10,000 metres. On Sunday, the final day, the men and women will race two 500 metres and the mass start.