It was an unbelievable World Cup weekend for Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario. Blondin won three gold medals at a World Cup speed skating competition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Her gold medals came in the women’s 5000 metres on Friday, in the women’s 1500 metres on Sunday and in the women’s team pursuit alongside Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa, Canadian Olympic silver medalist Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Quebec and Beatrice Lamarche of Quebec City, Quebec on Sunday.
In all, Canadian speed skaters contributed to seven World Cup medals. Canada’s other medals came from Alex Boisvert-Lacroix of Sherbrooke, Quebec in the men’s 500 metres on Friday (bronze), Weidemann in the women’s 5000 metres on Friday (bronze), Graeme Fish of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the men’s 10000 metres on Saturday (bronze) and Fish, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary, Alberta, Jordan Belchos of Toronto, Ontario and Tyson Langelaar of Winnipeg, Manitoba in the men’s team pursuit on Sunday (silver).
In the women’s 5000 metres on Friday, Blondin had a winning time of 6:54.95. Weidemann had a third place time of 6:55.81. Blondin reached the podium by 1.4 seconds over Esmee Visser of the Netherlands, and Weidemann reached the podium by 0.54 seconds. Visser’s fourth place time was 6:56.35. Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic won the silver medal with a time of 6:55.00. This was the first women’s 5000 metre World Cup race of the year.
In the men’s 500 metres on Friday, Boisvert-Lacroix had a bronze medal time of 34.73 seconds. He reached the podium by .01 seconds over Artem Arefyev of Russia, who had a fourth place time of 34.74 seconds. Viktor Mushtakov of Russia won the gold medal with a time of 34.636 seconds and Ruslan Murashov of Russia won the silver medal with a time of 34.641 seconds.
In the men’s 500 metre World Cup standings, Boisvert-Lacroix is in 10th place with 95 points. Jun-Ho Kim of South Korea leads with 143 points.
In the men’s 10000 metres on Saturday, Fish had a bronze medal time of 13:04.26. He reached the podium by 2.37 seconds over Alexander Rumyantsev of Russia who had a fourth place time of 13:06.63. Patrick Roest of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 12:59.44 seconds and Danila Semerikov of Russia won the silver medal with a time of 13:02.44 seconds. This was the first men’s 10000 metre World Cup race of the year.
In the women’s 1500 metres on Sunday, Blondin had a winning time of 1:55.6. She reached the podium by 0.64 seconds over fourth place finisher Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands, who had a fourth place time of 1:56.24. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 1:55.88 and Brittany Bowe of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 1:55.96.
In the women’s 1500 metre World Cup standings, Blondin is in 10th place with 89 points. Wust leads with 174 points.
In the women’s team pursuit on Sunday, Canada had a winning time of 3:00.246. They reached the podium by 6.81 seconds over the United States, who finished in fourth place with a time of 3:07.06. The Netherlands won silver with a time of 3:00.35 and Russia won bronze with a time of 3:04.35.
Canada is in a three-way tie for first place in the women’s team pursuit World Cup standings. They are tied with Russia and the Netherlands at 216 points.
In the men’s team pursuit on Sunday, Canada had a second place time of 3:47.66. They reached the podium by 0.73 seconds over Japan, who had a fourth place time of 3:48.39. Italy won the gold medal with a time of 3:46.32 and Russia won the bronze medal with a time of 3:48.26.
Canada is in third place in the men’s team pursuit World Cup standings. At 194 points, they are six points back of Italy, which leads at 200 points.
Maltais won the silver medal in the women’s 3000 metre short track speed skating relay at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Bloemen won the gold medal in the men’s 10000 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. The medals for Maltais, Bloemen, Blondin, Weidemann, Lamarche, Boisvert-Lacroix, Fish, Belchos and Langelaar will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
