Long track | Ivanie Blondin grabs silver in mass start

Canadian Ivanie Blondin won her second medal at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday morning in the women’s long track speed skating mass start.

Katherine Harvey Pinard
The Press

Blondin, whose favorite discipline is, remained in the peloton throughout the race. Her teammate, Quebecer Valérie Maltais, helped her in her own way. The latter allowed herself two sprints in front of the group in the middle of the race, going for 6 points in the standings and forcing the opponents to increase the pace, before coming back behind the peloton. With two laps to go, she moved up front again to speed up the group.

The Ontarian, world leader in this event, beat everyone in the final sprint. The Dutch Irene Schouten however managed to catch up with her in the last meters to steal the gold medal from her. Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida finished third.

As for Maltais, she ultimately finished 6^and rank thanks to the 6 points earned by his sprints.

As tradition dictates, Ivanie Blondin took to the rink with the Canadian flag on her back, smiling. It’s a second podium for the Canadian in Beijing and in three appearances at the Olympic Games, she who was also part of the women’s team that won gold in the team pursuit. In 2018, in PyeongChang, a fall prevented her from winning a medal in the mass start.

It is also the 25^and medal of Canada and the 5^and in long track speed skating in Beijing, after Isabelle Weidemann’s two individual wins, Laurent Dubreuil’s silver in the 1,000 meters and gold in the women’s team pursuit.

For the men, the mass start did not go so well. Canadian Jordan Belchos took the 13^and rank, while Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu finished 15th^and rank.