Blondin & Dubreuil add to Canadian medal haul on final day of World Cup

TOMASZOW MAZOWIECKI, POLAND - Ivanie Blondin and Laurent Dubreuil stepped on the podium for Canada at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Poland on Sunday, winning a silver medal in the ladies’ mass start and a bronze medal in the men’s 500m, respectively.
 
Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) narrowly missed out on a second consecutive gold in the mass start, leading for most of the race but losing the sprint to the finish line against Irene Schouten of the Netherlands. Blondin ended with a time of 9:03.410 and 42 sprint points, ahead of Japan’s Nana Takagi.
 
Dubreuil’s time of 34.975 put him behind Japanese teammates Tatsuya Shinhama and Yuma Murakami on the podium in the men’s 500m. It is the Lévis, Quebec native’s first individual distance medal on the World Cup circuit since the start of the 2017-18 season.
 
Other Results to Note

  • Alex Boisvert-Lacroix won Division B of the men’s 500m with a time of 35.207.
  • The men’s team pursuit - composed of Ted-Jan Bloemen, Graeme Fish and Jordan Belchos - finished just off the podium in fourth place.

The World Cup circuit continues in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on December 6-8. 

QUOTES

"My goal at the World Cups is always to be on the podium in my individual distances. I was in the B Group last week, so I am very happy to have won a medal in my first race in A Group. I’m also pleased because we trained a bit differently this summer, so to see that bearing fruit and delivering results is very positive."

- Laurent Dubreuil

"It's always really good to fight for the one-two positions with Irene Schouten of the Netherlands; we've been doing it as long as I can remember. My strategy today was to go out, feel the field and not let anyone create gaps. I worked a little bit too hard and that took away some energy for my sprint, but I'm still very happy with a silver medal."

- Ivanie Blondin

ADDITIONAL CANADIAN RESULTS

  • Gilmore Junio (Calgary, Alta.) - 16th in 500m
  • Béatrice Lamarche (Quebec City, Que.) - 13th in 1500m (Division B)
  • David La Rue (Saint-Lambert, Que.) - 17th in 500m (Division B)

ISU JUNIOR WORLD CUP

Up-and-coming athletes from the Canadian team continued to collect medals at the ISU Junior World Cup in the Netherlands on Sunday, earning seven podium finishes in individual distances.

  • Connor Howe (Canmore, Alta.): men’s 1500m - gold
  • Brooklyn McDougall (Calgary, Alta.): ladies 500m - gold
  • Abigail McCluskey (Penticton, B.C.): ladies 1500m - gold, ladies mass start - bronze
  • Alexa Scott (Clandeboye, Man.): ladies 1500m  (junior) - silver
  • Hayden Mayeur (Toronto, Ont.): men’s mass start - gold, men’s 1500m - silver