Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa won a silver medal in the women’s mass start race at the ISU World Speed Skating Championship held in Heerenveen, Netherlands on Saturday.
The 32-year-old finished in eight minutes and 34.19 seconds, with Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands taking the lead midway through the race and finishing in 8:19.36, securing the gold medal. Irene Schouten, also from the Netherlands, took bronze.
Blondin admitted to making a mistake in the race, saying that she thought Groenewoud wouldn’t attack right away, which ended up costing her the title. She also expressed gratitude to her teammate Valerie Maltais for her help and said that they were learning from their mistakes to improve for next year. Maltais finished in eighth place.
Canadian skaters Connor Howe and Maddison Pearman placed 15th and 18th, respectively, in the men’s mass start and women’s 1,000-metre events, while Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu finished seventh in the men’s 1,000-metre event.
American skater Jordan Stolz won his second world title of the weekend, becoming the youngest-ever speed skater to win a single distance world title after winning the men’s 500m race on Friday.
The Canadian speed skating team won gold in both women’s and men’s team sprints earlier in the competition, as well as in the women’s pursuit race.
Laurent Dubreuil won a silver medal in the men’s pursuit, while also finishing 11th in the men’s 1,000-metre event. Vincent De Haître finished in 23rd place.
The competition will conclude on Sunday with the 1,500-metre and 10,000-metre races for both men and women.
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