Ivanie Blondin leads Women’s Team Sprint to gold and captures 1500m bronze; Men’s Team Sprint also wins bronze

HACHINOHE CITY, JAPAN – Canada’s long track speed skating team reached the podium three times on the opening day of the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships in Hachinohe City, earning one gold and two bronze medals on the first competition day of the 2024-25 international season.

It was a golden start for the Canadian squad, as Carolina Hiller (Prince George, B.C.), Béatrice Lamarche (Quebec City, Que.) and Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) raced to victory in the women’s Team Sprint. Lamarche used the slingshot technique to launch Blondin into the final lap, which helped the trio maintain their speed and set a new track record time of 1:27.87, placing them comfortably ahead of their challengers from Korea (+1.39) and Kazakhstan (+2.49).

“Overall, the race was great and we’re really happy. We had no idea we set a new track record until they presented us with the official certificate! The slingshot move felt better yesterday in practice, but it was not at high speed. Maybe we looked smooth, but I personally felt weird and rushed throughout the entire process. I’m excited to try it again during the World Cup in China becuase I think it can be better.”

Béatrice Lamarche

Blondin followed up the team success with an impressive podium performance on short rest in the women’s 1500m, capturing Canada’s first individual distance medal of the season. The 34-year-old posted a time of 1:57.99, fast enough to earn bronze in the grueling race, behind hometown hero Miho Takagi (1:54.86) and China’s Mei Han (1:56.53).

“I feel pretty good about my 1500m. I was not able to warm down following the Team Sprint as we went straight to the medal ceremony, which took a while, and by the time that was over I had to put my skin suit on and get back on the ice. I did a three-lap warm up and went to the start line. Technically, the race felt really good. The Team Sprint took a little bit out of my start – I didn’t have the pop that I normally would – but mid way through the race I realized things were going well and my legs were actually feeling pretty decent. I was happy with the end time.”

Ivanie Blondin

Canada’s second bronze medal of the day was earned by the men’s Team Sprint trio of Anders Johnson (Burnaby, B.C.), Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.) and Yankun Zhao (Calgary, Alta.). The defending World Champions and current World Record holders skated a time of 1:20.32, placing them behind China (1:19.78) and the United States (1:19.43).

“I think it was a good race for us. It was a new setup for our team today and we executed well and skated well. We’re happy with the result and excited to see what comes in the future.”

Anders Johnson

The ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships continue tomorrow, where Olympic medalists such as Laurent Dubreuil, Ted-Jan Bloemen, Valérie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann will compete for medals in the women’s 500m and 3000m, as well as the men’s 500m and 5000m. Watch the races live on CBC Sports digital channels starting at 12:00am ET.

Results

1500m

Ivanie Blondin: 3rd
Beatrice Lamarche: 12th
Laura Hall: 16th

Connor Howe: 4th
David La Rue: 9th
Tyson Langelaar: 13th

Team Sprint

Women: 1st
Men: 3rd

Resources

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Results
Photos
Live Streaming