Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario won two World Cup gold medals in Salt Lake City on the weekend. She placed first in the women’s team pursuit with Olympic silver medalist Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Quebec and Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa, Ontario on Saturday, and then first in the women’s mass start on Sunday.
Blondin was one of two Canadian speed skaters to win multiple medals on the weekend. Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Quebec won two bronze medals in separate men’s 500 metre events.
In the women’s team pursuit, Canada had a gold medal winning time of 2:52.39. The Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 2:52.69. Russia won the bronze medal with a time of 2:56.22. Canada reached the podium by 4.4 seconds over Norway, who had a fourth place time of 2:56.79. In the 2021 Women’s World Cup Team Pursuit standings, Canada leads with 240 points, and have 36 more points than second place Netherlands, who has 204 points.
In the women’s mass start, Blondin placed ahead of silver medalist Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands, and bronze medalist Sofie Karoline Haugen of Norway. In the World Cup standings, Blondin is the World Cup leader with 336 points. Irene Schouten of the Netherlands is second with 326 points.
In the men’s 500 metres on Friday, Dubreuil posted a time of 34.10 seconds. He reached the podium by six one-hundredths of a second over Viktor Mushtakov of Russia, who had a fourth place time of 34.16 seconds. Yamato Matsui of Japan won the gold medal with a time of 34.05 seconds. Wataru Morishige of Japan won the silver medal with a time of 34.09 seconds.
In the men’s 500 metres on Sunday, Dubreuil had a time of 34.05 seconds. Morishige won the gold medal with a time of 34 seconds. Artem Arefyev of Russia won the silver medal with a time of 34.003 seconds. Dubreuil reached the podium by 0.16 seconds over Matsui, who had a time of 34.21 seconds.
Dubreuil is the World Cup leader in the men’s 500 metres. He has 312 points, 26 more points than Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan, who is in second place with 286 points.
The medals for Blondin, Weidemann, Maltais and Dubreuil will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. The silver medal for Maltais came in the women’s 3000 metre relay at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
