Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario has won her second medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. After winning gold in the women’s team pursuit speed skating event on February 15 with Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa, Ontario. and Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Quebec, Blondin won the silver medal in the women’s mass start speed skating competition on Saturday.
Blondin had the lead in the final portion of the race, but was caught and passed by Irene Schouten of the Netherlands. Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy won the bronze medal.
Blondin has had exceptional success in women’s mass start speed skating in recent years. She won the gold medal in the mass start at the 2016 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Kolomna, Russia, and at the 2020 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was also the World Cup leader this season heading into the mass start, as she had 492 World Cup points.
Team Canada now has 25 medals at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. They have four gold medals, eight silver medals and 13 bronze medals. Only Norway at 35 medals and the Russian Olympic Committee at 29 medals have more.
There are still two medal opportunities for Canada. In two-woman bobsled, Christine DeBruin of Edmonton, Alberta and Kristen Bujnowski of London, Ontario are fourth after two heats. In four-men bobsled, Justin Kripps of Summerland, British Columbia, Ryan Sommer of White Rock, British Columbia, Cam Stones of Oshawa, Ontario, and Ben Coakwell of Regina, Saskatchewan are in third after two heats.
