Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario won a World Cup gold medal in the women’s 3000m in Erfurt, Germany on Sunday. It was the first World Cup win for Blondin of the 2017-18 season and first career win in the women’s 3000m. She has won five career World Cup gold medals in the women’s mass start and two career World Cup gold medals in the women’s team pursuit.
Blondin posted a winning time in Erfurt of 4:04.86. Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 4:05.45. Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic won the bronze medal with a time of 4:05.91.
Blondin reached the podium by 2.43 seconds. Marina Zueva of Belarus finished in fourth place with a time of 4:07.29.
The gold medal for Blondin means she is now in first place in the World Cup standings in the women’s 3000m with 335 points. She has 15 more points than Sablikova.
Blondin was one of three Canadian speed skaters to earn a World Cup medal this past weekend in Erfurt. She was joined by Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary, Alberta, who earned a bronze medal in the men’s 5000m World Cup speed skating race on Saturday and Alex Boisvert-Lacroix of Sherbrooke, Quebec, who won the bronze medal in the men’s 500m World Cup speed skating race on Sunday.
In the men’s 5000m World Cup race, Bloemen posted a time of 6:17.11. Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway won the gold medal with a time of 6:14.66. Nicola Tumolero of Italy won the silver medal with a time of 6:16.11.
Bloemen reached the podium by 0.64 seconds. Alexander Rumyantsev of Russia finished in fourth place with a time of 6:17.75.
With the bronze medal finish, Bloemen remains the World Cup leader in the men’s 5000m with 410 points. He has 110 more points than Sven Kramer of the Netherlands, who is in second with 300 points.
In the men’s 500m World Cup race, Boisvert-Lacroix posted a third place finish time of 35 seconds flat. Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway won the gold medal with a time of 34.85 seconds. Jan Smeekens of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 34.95 seconds.
Boisvert-Lacroix reached the podium by the slimmest of margins– one-hundredth of a second in fact. Michel Mulder of the Netherlands was in fourth place with a time of 35.01 seconds.
Boisvert-Lacroix is now in second place in the World Cup standings in the men’s 500m speed skating with 428 points. Lorentzen leads with 536 points. The World Cup medals for Boisvert-Lacroix, Bloemen and Blondin will all give them confidence as they prepare for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
