Canadians fall just short of podiums at speed skating World Cup in Poland

Connor Howe narrowly missed the podium on a day when Canadian speed skaters compiled strong results but no medals.

Howe, 22, was among three Canadians to reach the top 10 in the men's 1,500 metres at Friday's World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.

The Canmore, Alta., native lost out on a medal by just 0.19 seconds, clocking a time of one minute 47.81 seconds.

"I was satisfied with my 1500m given it's my first major race in a couple months, but think I can skate better with a bit more time on the ice and rest," Howe said.

Still, Howe remains atop the season-long leaderboard in the distance thanks to previous gold and silver medals.

Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu of Sherbrooke, Que., placed seventh at 1:48.27, while Winnipeg's Tyson Langelaar was ninth at 1:48.55.

Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis won gold by a margin of seven-tenths of a second over Norway's Peder Kongshaug, while the Netherlands' Patrick Roest rounded out the podium.

Meanwhile, a trio of Canadians also slotted into the top eight of the women's 3,000m.

Ottawa's Isabelle Weidemann, who scored bronze in the event at the Beijing Olympics, placed fifth with a time of 4:08.91, over 10 seconds behind her Olympic pace and nearly three seconds off of the podium.

Valerie Maltais, of Saguenay, Que., was seventh (4:11.25) and Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa finished eighth (4:13.16).

Weidemann, Maltais and Blondin combined to win women's team pursuit gold at the Olympics.

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In the women's 500, Canadians Carolina Hiller and Brooklyn McDougall were 13th and 19th, respectively.

The Canadian men's team pursuit squad accounted for another fourth-place finish with its time of 3:45.91 leaving it shy of a podium made up in order of Norway, the U.S. and the Netherlands.

Live action from Poland continues on Saturday at 9 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.