Blondin and Maltais earn gold and bronze in Mass Start; Ted-Jan Bloemen captures 5000m bronze

SALT LAKE CITY, UNITED STATES – For the second time this season, Canadians Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais both reached the Mass Start podium at a World Cup, winning gold and bronze, respectively, on the final day of racing in Salt Lake City. Ted-Jan Bloemen added to Canada’s medal haul with a bronze medal in the men’s 5000m.

The duo of Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) and Maltais (La Baie, Que.) were locked in a sprint to the finish line alongside their Dutch rivals Irene Schouten and Marijke Groenewoud. Blondin (8:14.70) was able to get around Schouten (8:14.81) to move into top spot, while Maltais (8:15.14) sped past Groenewoud to secure her spot on the podium. Schouten settled for silver, while Groenewoud finished fifth.

It was only the third time in World Cup history that Canada had two female skaters on the podium in the Mass Start, the first happening last season in Tomaszów Mazowiecki and the most recent taking place earlier this season in Beijing.

Maltais is currently ranked first overall in the distance with 231 points, having won two bronze and one silver. Her teammate Blondin is only three points behind the lead (228), thanks to winning two gold and two silver medals so far this season.

Ted-Jan Bloemen also brought home some hardware from Salt Lake City on Sunday.

After starting the season with fourth place finishes at the World Cups in Obihiro, Beijing and Tomaszów Mazowiecki, the 37-year-old was finally able to put together a podium performance in the 5000m, crossing the finish line with a time of 6:06.88 to secure bronze. Patrick Roest of the Netherlands (6:02.98) and Davide Ghiotto of Italy (6:04.23) both skated personal best times to claim gold and silver, respectively.

Roest has won gold in all four 5000m races this season, placing him atop the World Cup long-distance rankings with 274 points, comfortably ahead of the Bloemen, who sits in third with 231 points, thanks in part to today’s 5000m bronze and a 10,000m silver from Stavanger.

Canada leaves Salt Lake City with 6 World Cup medals, adding to the 12 medals they captured during the Four Continents Championships one week ago at the same oval.

The ISU World Cup Speed Skating season wraps up next weekend in Quebec City, which is set to host it’s first World Cup in 30 years at the all-new Centre de glaces Intact Assurance. Tickets are still available to attend this historic World Cup Speed Skating competition in Quebec City. Visit www.longuepiste.ca for more information. For those unable to attend in person, the races will be live streamed by both CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports, while also being televised by CBC and ICI Télé.

Quotes

“I’m really happy with my race today. I just went for it, gathered all my courage and aimed high. I was aiming for a world record and a time under six minutes, and I gave it everything I had, but you could see all weekend that the conditions were not as fast as what we are used to in Salt Lake City. I think the final time was not optimal today because I put everything on the line for a world record in the beginning and I had to pay for it in the end. But I was really happy to show that I’ve still go it today and that we found a way to still perform like this at 37-years-old. I’m looking forward to World Championships and giving it my all again to get on top of the podium at home in Calgary.”

Ted-Jan Bloemen

“I’m really happy with my performance in the Mass Start today! There was a lot of action and the pace was fast. I was able to close the gap on attacking skaters two separate times and still managed to have the legs for the final sprint. We want to see more red than orange on the podium, and today we accomplished that mission!”

Valérie Maltais

Results

1000m

Ivanie Blondin: 12th
Maddison Pearman: 20th
Alexa Scott: 11th (B Division)
Alison Desmarais : 12th (B Division)
Beatrice Lamarche: 14th (B Division)
Connor Howe: 15th
Vincent De Haître: 12th (B Division)
Cooper Emin: 17th (B Division)
Yankun Zhao: 21st (B Division)

5000m

Ted-Jan Bloemen: 3rd
Graeme Fish: ? (B Division)
Jordan Belchos: ? (B Division)
Jake Weidemann: ? (B Division)

Mass Start

Ivanie Blondin: 1st
Valerie Maltais: 3rd