Canada’s Blondin back on podium in 5,000 metres | 24CA News
Ivanie Blondin returned to the World Cup podium in speedskating’s longest distance for girls, whereas teammate Isabelle Weidemann vowed to do “detective work” to resolve her current energy outage.
The two Canadians skated towards one another within the remaining pairing of a 5,000 metres race Friday in Calgary’s Olympic Oval.
Blondin shifted into the next gear with 4 laps of 12 and a half remaining to cross the road in third.
READ MORE: Canadian speedskater Ivanie Blondin embraces beefy race schedule
Weidemann, an Olympic silver medallist within the distance, couldn’t go along with her and positioned seventh.
Olympic champion Irene Schouten led a four-medal day for the Netherlands to kick off the second of back-to-back speedskating World Cups in Calgary.
The host Canadian staff produced a pair of bronze medals Friday.
Schouten took the 5k by virtually 5 seconds over runner-up Ragne Wiklund of Norway.
Blondin was 6.75 seconds again of the winner for her first medal within the distance since a victory in Kazakhstan in 2019.
“I didn’t think that I would ever step on a 5k podium again in my career because I feel like I’m almost veering more towards mid-distance lately,” Blondin mentioned.
“Going into the race, I thought for sure (Weidemann) would beat me because she’s been so strong in the past I don’t know how many years in the 5k.
“My goal going in was to go with her and try and maintain the same lap times as consistently as possible at the beginning of the race and see where it gets me.”
The 32-year-old from Ottawa is a uncommon all-rounder who competes in a number of distances and contends in lots of.
Blondin has collected over 60 World Cup medals in her profession throughout the 5,000, 3,000 and 1,500 metres, mass begin and staff pursuit.
She’ll compete in Saturday’s 1,500 metres and staff dash, in addition to Sunday’s mass begin and 1,000 metres.
“It’s satisfying for me being able to do so many distances and being a little more all-around,” she mentioned.
Blondin, Ottawa’s Weidemann and Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., claimed Olympic staff pursuit gold in Beijing in February.
Blondin took silver within the mass begin there.
In addition to her 5k silver medal, Weidemann earned bronze within the 3,000 metres and was named Canada’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremonies.
READ MORE: Decorated Canadian speedskater Isabelle Weidemann resets targets submit Beijing Olympics
The Canadian girls have been victors within the six-lap staff pursuit final Saturday, however Weidemann has struggled in her particular person races on back-to-back weekends after putting eleventh in final week’s 3k.
The 27-year-old was sick final month in Heerenveen, the Netherlands.
Weidemann says she examined adverse for COVID-19, however guessed she would possibly nonetheless really feel the residual results of her sickness.
“I’ve really struggled the last few weeks,” Weidemann mentioned. “Ever since I got sick in the Netherlands, I just haven’t been able to train as well, or compete as well obviously.
“It happens, you can have a bad race, but to do it two weekends in a row really sucks. We’ll have to do a little bit of searching or some detective work.”
Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., and Montreal’s Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu and Christopher Fiola mixed for bronze within the males’s staff dash.
Poland was first simply three hundredths of a second sooner than the Dutch.
Three skaters from every nation begin the three-lap staff dash. A skater drops out after every of the primary two laps leaving one striving for the end line.
The staff dash isn’t but an Olympic occasion.
“We don’t practice it a lot,” mentioned Dubreuil, who will strive for a second straight 500-metre win in Calgary on Saturday.
“I think Poland nailed their execution better than we did, but at the same time, it’s also a work in progress.”
The Dutch collected a dozen medals, together with 5 gold, in Calgary’s first World Cup.
They continued their torrid tempo to begin the second Friday.
Kjeld Nuis received the boys’s 1,500 metres forward of Jordan Stolz of the U.S. in second and Dutch teammate Thomas Krol in third.
South Korea’s Min-Sum Kim took the ladies’s 500 metres with Japan’s Miho Takagi second. Reigning Olympic champion Erin Jackson of the U.S. was third.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
