After winning five World Cup medals a weekend ago in Heerenveen, Netherlands, Team Canada won one more this past weekend in Heerenveen, as they won six medals–one gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. The gold medal came in women’s team pursuit, as Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa, Ontario, along with Valerie Maltais of Saguenay, Quebec landed on top of the podium again.
In the women’s team pursuit on Friday, Blondin, Weidemann, and Maltais (an Olympic silver medalist from the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in the women’s 3000 metre short track speed skating relay), posted a time of 2:54.64. The Netherlands won silver with a time of 2:55.59. Norway won bronze with a time of 2:58.23. Canada reached the podium by 5.6 seconds over Russia, who had a time of 3:00.24. Canada also won the World Cup Standings in the event with 240 points, 24 more points than the Netherlands.
In the men’s team pursuit on Friday, the team of Canadian Olympic gold medalist Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary, Alberta, Jordan Belchos of Toronto, Ontario, and Connor Howe of Canmore, Alberta had a time 3:39.94. Norway won the gold medal with a time of 3:39.08, and Russia won bronze with a time of 3:41.4. Canada earned a medal by 2.32 seconds over the Netherlands, who had a fourth place time of 3:42.26. With the silver medal, Canada finished third in the 2021 World Cup standings with 204 points. Norway won with 228 points and the Netherlands were second with 206 points. Bloemen won his Olympic gold medal for Canada in the men’s 10000 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
In the women’s mass start on Saturday, Blondin won the silver medal with 41 points. Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won gold with 60 points and Elizaveta Golubeva of Russia won bronze with 10 points. In the 2021 World Cup standings, Blondin finished second with 270 points, 30 fewer points than Schouten.
Canada’s other three medals on the weekend came from Laurent Dubreuil of Quebec City, Quebec. Dubreuil won a silver medal in the men’s 500 metres on Saturday, followed by bronze medals in the men’s 500 metres and 1000 metres on Sunday.
In the men’s 500 metres on Saturday, Dubreuil had a second place time of 34.52 seconds. Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia won the gold medal with a time of 34.475 seconds. Dai Dai N’tab of the Netherlands, and Artem Arefyev of Russia each won the bronze medal with a time of 34.588 seconds. Dubreuil reached the podium by .068 seconds.
In the men’s 500 metres on Sunday, Dubreuil had a third place time of 34.594 seconds. Ronald Mulder of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 34.555 seconds. Hein Otterspeer of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 34.59 seconds. Dubreuil reached the podium by .043 seconds over Viktor Mushtakov of Russia, who was in fourth place with a time of 34.637 seconds. With the silver and bronze medal, Dubreuil finished second in the World Cup men’s 500 metre standings with 182 points. N’tab finished first with 200 points.
In the men’s 1000 metres on Sunday, Dubreuil had a third place time of 1:08.185. Kai Verbij of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 1:07.355. Thomas Krol of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 1:07.581. Dubreuil reached the podium by .192 seconds over Otterspeer, who had a fourth place time of 1:08.377.
With the bronze medal in the men’s 1000 metres, Dubreuil finished fourth in the World Cup standings in the event with 80 points. Verbij and Krol were tied for the lead with 114 points. The medals for Blondin, Weidemann, Maltais, Bloemen, Belchos, Howe, and Dubreuil, will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
