Gold for women’s team pursuit leads three medal weekend in long track speed skating
After her gold medal in the team pursuit on Saturday, Ivanie Blondin added another medal to her collection at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland on Sunday in the mass start event.
Blondin captured the silver medal this Sunday with a time of 9:34.37, just 0.24 seconds ahead of Dutch Marijke Groenewoud. American Mia Kilburg completed the podium.
In the men’s 1000m, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu just missed the podium finishing fourth, just 0.33 seconds behind Pole Damian Zurek in third place. Laurent Dubreuil took ninth position, while Connor Howe and Vincent De Haître finished the race in thirteenth and twentieth place respectively.
Team Canada wins third consecutive gold medal in women’s team pursuit, Dubreuil claims 500m silver
The team of Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais skated to the gold medal in the women’s team pursuit final on Saturday. With this win, they secure their fourth consecutive overall World Cup title in the distance.
The Beijing 2022 Olympic champions showed that they’re still the team to beat, crossing the line in 3:00.97 to capture their third gold medal in as many competitions this season. Joining the Canadians on the podium was the Netherlands (3:01.74) and the United States (3:04.01).
“We are really happy with our race today,” said Maltais. “We went out conservatively and in control as we weren’t sure the best way to race the pursuit on this ice. It paid off as we finish our second straight season with nothing but World Cup gold!”
READ: Long track: Blondin headlines seven medal weekend for Team Canada in Calgary
Also reaching the podium on Saturday, Laurent Dubreuil claimed silver in the men’s 500m final. He clocked a time of 34.87 seconds, only 0.11 seconds off gold medallist Wataru Morishigue of Japan (34.78). Yuma Murakami, (35.03) also of Japan, completed the podium with the bronze medal.
This is Dubreuil’s fifth consecutive podium finish in the 500m this season, having captured two gold, two silver and one bronze so far. The Beijing 2022 silver medallist sits atop the World Cup rankings with 276 points, 42 points ahead of his closest challenger Murakami.
