Ivanie Blondin skates to 2 more gold, another track record at World Cup in Kazakhstan
Canadian speed skater owns Alau Ice Palace marks in 5,000m and 1,500m races
Canadian speed skater Ivanie Blondin blazed to two more gold medals and another new track record at a World Cup event in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on Sunday.
Blondin, from Ottawa, completed the women's 1,500-metre event in one minute 55.599 seconds, eclipsing the mark of 1:56.10, held by Canadian Christine Nesbitt since 2011.
Blondin's previous best World Cup result in the 1,500 was sixth during the 2017-18 season.
Sunday's win represented the second gold medal and track record for the 29-year-old at the Alau Ice Palace this weekend. She took 5,000m gold — her first career in that discipline — in a track record time on Friday.
WATCH | Ivanie Blondin wins women's 1,500 metres in record time:
Later Sunday, Blondin added a third gold as part of the Canadian women's team pursuit squad along with Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais and Béatrice Lamarche that skated to a time of 3:00.246 to edge the Dutch team (3:00.350).
'I'm already excited for next week's races'
It was the first victory in the discipline by Canadian women since 2012 and Maltais' first time atop the medal podium since making the shift to long track last season.
WATCH | Canada's women capture team pursuit gold medal:
"It's been a pretty phenomenal weekend. I couldn't be happier," Blondin said. "I knew we would achieve the first step of the podium in team pursuit this year. I'm already excited for next week's races."
Weidemann, Maltais and Lamarche also competed in the B Division 1,500 and finished second, fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Canadian long track team will compete Dec. 13-15 in Nagano, Japan.
Langelaar wins 1st World Cup medal
To close out Sunday's competition, the men's team pursuit earned a silver medal in a time of 3:47.650.
Ted-Jan Bloemen, Jordan Belchos and Tyson Langelaar were paired against the Russians, who placed third.
For the 20-year-old Langelaar, the medal is the Winnipeg native's first on the World Cup circuit and the Canadian men's first podium finish in team pursuit in nearly two years.
"It feels amazing to get on the podium for the first time at a senior event," Langelaar said. "We had pretty good execution today. There were a few slips so I think next week we can do even better."
Other Canadian results:
- Tyson Langelaar (Winnipeg) — 11th in 1,500 metres
- David La Rue (Saint-Lambert, Que.) — 14th in 1,500
- Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Que.) — 17th in 1,500
- Jordan Belchos (Toronto) — 20th in 1,500, B Division