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Canadian speed skater Ivani Blondin won World Cup bronze in the women's 1500m on Saturday, finishing on the podium at the distance for the first time since 2020.
Skating as a sixth pair with Angel Daleman, Blondin crossed the line in one minute, 53.43 seconds behind Dutch skaters Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong (1:53.36) and Joy Boehne (1:53.10), who won gold and silver in front of their hometown crowd in Heerenveen.
“I’m very happy about it, but I didn’t expect it,” Blondin said. “The course is so close and that’s what makes it so exciting. There are definitely benefits depending on how you ride. For me it's an advantage if I have a good pair. Angel was so fast from the start and I had to chase her the whole race, until the last half of the lap when I passed her.”
Ottawa's Ivani Blondin finishes third in the women's 1500m at the World Cup of Speed Skating in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Blondin, who won gold in the team pursuit and silver in the mass start at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, finished sixth overall in the 1,500m.
The last time the 35-year-old from Ottawa finished in the top three of 1,500 players was in the 2019-20 season.
“Honestly, I'm surprised. “I'm surprised, but at the same time, given what I've been able to do in training up to this point, I think this result makes sense,” she said. “I always try to show my best results on slow ice – it’s difficult for me when the ice is fast. But it's surprising because yesterday I really didn't feel like I was doing my 5000. My legs were really sore and I was hesitant to time my lap.
“In terms of confidence, if you look at my results this season, my confidence is clearly not there. But I really think that's what caused me to struggle today. Today I just fought a little harder and controlled what I could control and that’s what gave me this result.”
Elsewhere, Dutch-Canadian figure skater Ted-Jan Bloemen, representing Canada, finished seventh in the men's 10,000m.
The competition in Heerenveen will conclude on Sunday with the men's and women's 500m, mass start and team sprint.
Watch live coverage from Heerenveen on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. The broadcast schedule is as follows available here.
Watch day two of the World Cup Speed Skating competition in Heerenveen, the Netherlands.
