Ivanie Blondin claims top-10 finish in the 1000m 

STAVANGER, NORWAY – Valérie Maltais earned Canada’s lone medal on the opening day of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Stavanger, racing to a silver medal in the women’s Mass Start. 

Maltais (La Baie, Que.) finished the race in second place out of 16 skaters with a time of 8:37.19, capturing her third World Cup medal of the season. Reigning Olympic champion Irene Schouten (NED) finished in first place at 8:36.25, while Mia Kilburg-Manganello (USA) took the bronze with a time of 8:40.01. 

Also competing in the Mass Start was Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) who was ultimately disqualified along with nine other skaters after being lapped by the race leaders. In the women’s 1000m, Blondin finished in eighth place with a final time of 1:16.47 (+1.21). Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands finished at the top of the podium (1:15.26), followed by Miho Takagi of Japan (1:15.52) in second and Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong of the Netherlands (1:15.74) in third. 

The ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Stavanger continues tomorrow with the men’s 500m and 10,000m and the women’s 1,500m. Races can be watched live on CBC Sports digital platforms, including CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem app. 

Quotes

“I’m happy to have experienced a breakaway so early in the race today. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this kind of race today. I’m grateful to have had a team-mate like Ivanie today, but the way the race ended was a bit strange because the frontrunner overtook the pack just before the breakaway finished the race. We’ll be back on track next week.”

Valérie Maltais 

Results 

1000m 

Ivanie Blondin: 8th 
Maddison Pearman: 20th 
Béatrice Lamarche: 8th (Division B) 
Carolina Hiller: 9th (Division B) 
Brooklyn Mcdougall: 18th (Division B) 
Connor Howe: 16th 
Vincent De Haître: 17th 
Laurent Dubreuil: 18th 
Joshua Telizyn: 24th (Division B) 

Mass Start 

Valérie Maltais: 2nd 
Ivanie Blondin: DQ
Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu: 14th 
Connor Howe: 18th