Their time of 2:53.44 broke the Olympic record as they beat Japan in the final by a margin of 11.03 seconds.

"I don’t know if we had thought about this possible outcome, we are still thinking is this real?" Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann said.

"We knew we had a strong team, we knew we could put pressure on Japan and all the other strong teams. 

"We were just very present, focused on the tasks we had to," said Ivanie Blondin.

Valerie Maltais had won short track silver at Sochi 2014 before switching.

"When I think personally of my journey into long track speed skating, obviously it brings a lot of emotion," Maltais said.

"I came to long track thinking I could be a good team pursuit skater.

It was the first time that Canada had won the event at the Olympics.

Japan had skated faster in the quarter final and semi final. 

After a fall from Nana Takagi, they could only record a time of 3:04.47.

"I couldn't find any words to tell her at that moment. I just wanted to be close to her and give her a hug," said Takagi’s sister Miho.

Despite the presence of individual gold medallists Ireen Wust and Irene Schouten, the Netherlands had to settle for bronze.

They clocked 2:56.66 in the final against the Russian Olympic Committee.