Canadians Ivanie Blondin won two gold medals on Sunday in a long-distance speed skating World Cup.
The Ottawa native won a one-man win at the 1,500 meters and a group victory alongside Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais in the pursuit of the team.
With a minute of 55,599 seconds, Blondin set a new course record for the Alau Ice Palace in the 1,500 and set a milestone in 2011 for the Canadian Christine Nesbitt.
Irene Wust from the Netherlands got silver and the reigning World Champion Brittany Bowe from the USA finished third. Later on Saturday, Blondin teamed with his compatriots Weidemann from Ottawa and Maltais from Saguenay, Que., To get gold in the pursuit of the team in 3: 00.246, a tenth of a second faster than in the Netherlands. Russia finished third.
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“It was a pretty phenomenal weekend, I could not be happier,” said Blondin. “I knew we would achieve the podium finish this year in the pursuit of the teams, but the gold medal was a perfect end to the weekend looking forward to next week’s races. “
It’s the first gold medal in Canadian Women’s Team Pursuit since 2012, and Maltais is on the podium for the first time since switching to endurance speed skating last season.
“Our secret to team performance is that we train together everyday and are very used to skating together, so it’s all a bit natural,” said Maltais. “I felt very good all weekend and the three of us have had a lot of success on our individual tracks, so today we could bring that positive energy into our race.”
Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen, Jordan Belchos of Toronto, and Tyson Langelaar of Winnipeg finished the men’s pursuit of 3: 47,650 in silver.
Although Canadian speed skaters miss the podium, they continue to search for medals in Pyeongchang.
