Canadian Olympic gold medalist Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario, and Canadian Olympic silver medalist Laurent Dubreuil of Quebec City, Quebec won silver medals in the final World Cup speed skating event of the season in Heerenveen, Netherlands on Sunday. Blondin won silver in the women’s mass start, and Dubreuil won silver in the men’s 500 metres.
In the women’s mass start, Blondin finished behind gold medalist Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands and ahead of bronze medalist Mia Manganello of the United States. In the World Cup women’s mass start standings, Blondin finished in fourth place with 223 points. She was behind Groenewoud with 340 points, Manganello with 247 points and Binyu Yang of China with 231 points.
In the men’s 500 metres, Dubreuil posted a second place time of 34.51 seconds. Yevgeniy Koshkin of Kazakhstan won the gold medal with a time of 34.46 seconds. Jenning De Boo of the Netherlands won the bronze medal with a time of 34.52 seconds. Dubreuil earned a medal by four one hundredths of a second. Jun-Ho Kim of South Korea finished in fourth place with a time of 34.55 seconds. In the World Cup men’s 500 metre speed skating standings, Dubreuil finished in second place with 476 points. Jordan Stolz of the United States was the World Cup men’s 500 metre champion with 568 points.
Dubreuil and Blondin both won their Olympic medals at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Dubreuil won silver in the men’s 1000 metres and Blondin won gold in the women’s team pursuit. The silver medals for Dubreuil and Blondin will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.
