Blondin earns 40^th career World Cup medal in Mass Start with gold on home ice; Women’s Team Pursuit reaches podium for second consecutive weekend

CALGARY, ALBERTA – Ivanie Blondin reached the podium twice on Sunday, in what could potentially be the last international competition of her career on home ice, winning gold in the Mass Start and teaming up with Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais to earn silver in the Team Pursuit on the final day of ISU World Cup Speed Skating action in Calgary.

Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.), Weidemann (Ottawa, Ont.) and Maltais (La Baie, Que.) put forth a tremendous performance in the final pairing of the women’s Team Pursuit to kick-off Sunday’s races, winning their second silver medal of the season in a time of 2:52.68, just shy of their national record of 2:52.06. The Netherlands were victorious, posting a time of 2:52.52, while last weekend’s gold medalist Japan settled for bronze (2:53.08).

“I think today we were really consistent, just like last week. We had pretty similar lap times and a very similar finishing time. And I think we felt the same at the end. It feels good to be able to do the same thing over and over again.”

Isabelle Weidemann

The 35-year-old Blondin then wowed the crowd with an exciting gold medal performance in the Mass Start, using an excellent final sprint to separate herself from the pack, crossing the finish line in 8:08.48. It marked the 40^th time that the Canadian has reached the World Cup podium in the distance, having won 11 gold, 21 silver and 8 bronze medals since joining the circuit in 2012.

“It felt pretty incredible. The crowd was insane today, and my parents were here as well. It’s most likely my last World Cup here at home, so I’m a little bit emotional. This result is what I wanted, especially after last week’s weird finish to the Mass Start. My goal was to keep it together and not let any break aways happen, because my forte is obviously the final sprint. I found a hole in the last lap and went for it. I went on the inside and glad I held that last corner because I entered it really tight as to not impede on Valerie, who was in the race lane. Had a bit of a stumble but I was able to hold onto it.”

Ivanie Blondin

The veteran was joined on the podium by Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands (8:08.51) and Mia Manganello of the United States (8:08.70), who captured silver and bronze, respectively. Fellow Canada Maltais was in a podium position coming out of the last corner but slipped into fourth place (8:08.73) after a slight loss of balance in the final straight.

Canada concludes the home World Cup with four medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) and seven personal bests. The team has reached the podium nine times over the first two World Cups of the season (1 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze).

The ISU World Cup Speed Skating season continues next month with stops in Heerenveen (December 5-7) and Hamar (December 12-14). Both events will be live streamed on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports digital channels.

Results

Team Events

Women’s Pursuit: 2nd
Men’s Pursuit: 3rd (Division B)
Mixed Relay: 4th

Men’s 500m

Laurent Dubreuil: 11th
Cédrick Brunet: 17th
Yankun Zhao: 5th (Division B)
Anders Johnson: 10th (Division B)
Christopher Fiola: 12th (Division B)

Women’s 500m

Béatrice Lamarche: 8th
Brooklyn McDougall: 3rd (Division B)
Caroline Hiller-Donnelly: 4th (Division B)
Jenna Larter: 18th (Division B)
Rose Laliberté-Roy: 20th (Division B)

Women’s Mass Start

Ivanie Blondin: 1st
Valérie Maltais: 4th

Men’s Mass Start

Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu: 15th
Jake Weidemann: 18th