Canada Olympic Speedskating 2018: Top Skaters, Latest Odds and Predictions

The Netherlands are the major force when it comes to speedskating, and they are likely to dominate again at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, after winning 23-of-36 available medals four years ago

Canada claimed a silver and a bronze in Sochi and are already halfway to matching that achievement in Pyeongchang after Ted-Jan Bloemen claimed silver in the men's 5,000 metres on Sunday.

Dutchman Sven Kramer won gold in that event, and Norway's Sverre Lunde Pedersen was third, while the Netherlands claimed all three medals in Saturday's women's 3,000 metres.

Here are the favourites for the remaining individual events in speedskating at the 2018 Games, along with Canada's best prospects, via OddsShark:

Men's 500m

Favourite: Ronald Mulder, Netherlands (+350)

Top Canadian: Laurent Dubreuil (+1100)

Women's 500m

Favourite: Nao Kodaira, Japan (+350)

Top Canadian: Marsha Hudey (+3300)

Men's 1,000m

Favourite: Kjeld Nuis, Netherlands (+210) 

Top Canadian: Vincent De Haitre (+1600)

Women's 1,000m

Favourite: Nao Kodaira, Japan (-150)

Top Canadian: Kali Christ (+10000)

Men's 1,500m

Favourite: Denis Yuskov, Olympic Athletes of Russia (+105)

Top Canadian: Vincent De Haitre (+2800)

Women's 1,500m

Favourite: Miho Takagi, Japan (-110)

Top Canadian: Ivanie Blondin (+6600)

Women's 5,000m

Favourite: Martina Sablikova, Czech Republic (+150)

Top Canadian: Ivanie Blondin (+500)

Men's 10,000m

Favourite: Sven Kramer, Netherlands (-400)

Top Canadian: Jordan Belchos (+10000) 

Ivanie Blondin missed out on a medal in the ladies' 3,000 metres, eventually finishing in sixth place after admitting to being "nervous all day," per the National Post's Rob Longley.

However, her hopes of leaving South Korea with a medal are not completely gone as she remains arguably Canada's best remaining prospect to add to their tally in the speedskating.

The 27-year-old is joint-third favourite for the ladies' 5,000 metres, which takes place on Friday, while she should also be in contention for a medal in the mass start event, in which she is a former world champion.

In the men's individual disciplines Canada's best hopes of another medal, as far as the odds are concerned, is Laurent Dubreuil in the 500 metres.

The 25-year-old from Quebec will have a daunting trio of Dutchmen to beat out including Sochi medallists Jan Smeekens and Ronald Mulder, and he will have to produce a huge performance if he is to claim a medal.

With the team pursuit medals also up for grabs and some decent depth for Canada in both teams there is every chance they could match their achievements from Sochi in the speedskating.

However, given the dominance of the Netherlands a gold medal seems unlikely for Canada, as does exceeding their tally from four years ago.