Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario won her fourth career individual medal at the World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Inzell, Germany on Sunday. Blondin won the silver medal in the women’s mass start.
Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won the gold medal. Elizaveta Kazelina of Russia won the bronze medal.
This was Canada’s only medal at the 2019 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships. The mass start event made its Olympic debut at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, but it was a disappointing Olympic Winter Games for Blondin, who failed to qualify for the women’s final.
Over the last few years, Blondin has done very well in the women’s mass start competition at the World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships. She won the gold medal in the women’s mass start at the 2016 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Kolomna, Russia and a silver medal in the women’s mass start at the 2015 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Bloutin’s other world single distance championship medal came in the women’s 5000 metres as she won the bronze medal in Gangneung, South Korea. Blondin will be a medal contender in the women’s mass start at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
