Morrison skates to 2nd place in 1,500 at long track fall World Cup selections

Canadian speed skater Denny Morrison earned a second-place finish in the 1,500 metres at the long track fall World Cup selections on Sunday.

Morrison, who crossed the finish line in one minute 46.62 seconds, was competing in his first sanctioned competition in 18 months after having a motorcycle accident in 2015 and suffering a stroke last April.

"During my recovery, I kept telling myself that I just needed to get on the ice and do like I've done in the past," said Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C. "But I'm just not able to do that yet. I've been away from the ice for two years and I need to give myself time.

"In the 1,500, I really put emphasis on relaxing and it gave me some good results. I'm excited to use that as a foundation to build off of, and I'm confident that I can get post-stroke personal bests."

Vincent de Haitre of Cumberland, Ont., was first, beating his personal best by 28 hundredths of a second with a time of 1:44.27, the fastest time in the world in that distance so far this season. Richard Maclennan (1:46.86) of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., was third.

De Haitre, Morrison, Maclennan and Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary all came within the time standard of 1:47.14 needed to be eligible to qualify for the first World Cup of the 2016-2017 season.

Blondin keeps domination

On the women's side, Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin collected her fourth win in as many races, this time in the 1,500. She also finished first in the 1,000, 3,000 and 5,000 events earlier in the competition.

Blondin won the 1,500 in 1:56.49, Isabelle Weidemann (1:57.10) of Ottawa was second and Brianne Tutt (1:57.35) of Airdrie, Alta., was third.

"This is definitely reassuring for me to know that I am posting fast times and that I'm strong," said Blondin. "I'm not fully rested yet, so that's a positive thing to see that I am able to push through and perform well when I need to."

Suffering from bursitis to an ankle, Blondin, who was already prequalified for the first World Cup of the season in the mass start after having won a gold medal in that event at the 2016 World Single Distance Championships, did not take part in Sunday's mass start. That race was won by Beatrice Lamarche of Quebec City. Olivier Jean of Lachenaie, Que., won the men's mass start.