Canada’s Blondin wins gold in 3,000 metres at speedskating World Cup

ERFURT, Germany — Canada’s Ivanie Blondin won gold in the women’s 3,000-metre race Sunday at the ISU World Cup while compatriot Alex Boisvert-Lacroix took bronze in the men’s 500.

Blondin, from Ottawa, won her fourth individual medal on the World Cup circuit this season and first gold. It’s also the first win for the Canadian women’s team in a World Cup 3,000-metre race since Cindy Klassen won gold in 2006.

“Well, I can say that I definitely wasn’t expecting that,” said Blondin, who finished the race in four minutes, 4.86 seconds.

Dutch skater Antoinette de Jong won silver while Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took bronze. 

“I think this whole week, I’ve had a really calm mindset, I just did what I had to do and focused on the right things,” said Blondin. “I was calm going into the race. It allowed me to perform really well today. I didn’t panic, I just went out there and skated, and did the best that I possibly could today.

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“The result was more than what I expected and I’m really happy about that. It was a great race, super steady, I was conservative in the beginning a little bit and I think that it helped me maintain the right pace today on this ice.”

Boisvert-Lacroix of Sherbrooke, Que., finished the men’s 500 in 35 seconds for third place. He was 15 hundredths of a second away from gold medalist Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway. Jan Smeekens of the Netherlands won silver.

Calgary’s Gilmore Junio finished 10th, Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., was 15th and Quebec City’s Alexandre St-Jean was 16th.

“I couldn’t be happier about my podium finish today, especially after a disappointing race on Friday,” said Boisvert-Lacroix, who also won two gold medals in this distance earlier this season.

Vincent De Haitre of Cumberland, Ont., finished seventh in the men’s 1,000. Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., was 11th.

The Canadian Press