Team Canada won three medals at a speed skating World Cup in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland this past weekend. On Saturday, Canada won bronze in the women’s team pursuit competition, and on Sunday, Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario won the silver medal in the women’s mass start, and Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Quebec won bronze in the men’s 500 metres.
Blondin recorded two medals on the weekend, as she teamed up with Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa, Ontario, Olympic silver medalist Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Quebec and Beatrice Lamarche of Quebec City, Quebec in the women’s team pursuit. Maltais won a silver medal for Canada in the women’s 3000 metre short track speed skating relay at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
In the women’s team pursuit, Canada had a third place time of 3:03.726. Russia won the gold medal with a time of 3:02.765. Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 3:02.885. Canada won the bronze medal by .691 seconds over China, who had a fourth place time of 3:06.417.
In the women’s mass start, Blondin finished behind gold medalist Irene Schouten of the Netherlands and ahead of bronze medalist Nana Takagi of Japan. Blondin and Schouten are tied in the World Cup women’s mass start speed skating standings with 348 points each.
In the men’s 500 metres, Dubreuil had a third place time of 34.98 seconds. Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan won the gold medal with a time of 34.732 seconds. Yuma Murakami of Japan won the silver medal with 34.734 seconds. Dubreuil reached the podium by the slimmest of margins (.02 seconds). Jun-Ho Kim of South Korea finished in fourth place with a time of 35 seconds.
Dubreuil is in sixth place in the World Cup men’s 500 metre standings with 78 points. Shinhama and Kim lead with 103 points. The medals for Blondin, Weidemann, Maltais, Lamarche and Dubreuil will prepare them for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
