Canada’s Blondin shows them all ‘who’s the boss’
CALGARY — Perhaps Ivanie Blondin should consider a career mucking in the corners for the Canadian women’s hockey team upon retirement from speedskating.
A nasty bump from a Dutch skater — shown repeatedly on the big replay screen — did nothing to stop Blondin in her quest for the title in the women’s mass start at the world single distance championships in Kolomna, Russia.
“I’m mentally and physically tough, so them shoving me and pushing me motivated me more,” Blondin said Sunday. “It was a kind of a good thing, because I shoved them back and showed them who’s the boss.”
Did she ever. Surging to the front on the final lap, Blondin dropped in ahead of Korea’s Bo-Reum Kim and Japan’s Miho Takagi to win gold in eight minutes, 17.53 seconds.
“I’m really, really happy,” said the 25-year-old from Ottawa. “I think that’s the best mass start race that I’ve ever raced.”
In mass start, 24 skaters take off at the same time and battle for position through 16 laps over six kilometres. Competitors earn points for three intermediate sprints and the final dash to the end, but points are weighted to ensure the first across the finish line wins the race.
Upon crossing the line, Blondin jumped over the boards to hug coach Mark Wild. The cameras caught her wiping away tears of joy.
What a difference 72 hours can make. On Thursday, Blondin hit the proverbial wall in the women’s 3,000 metres. Exhausted mentally and physically, she finished a disappointing 17th and pulled out of the 5,000 metres on Friday to rest up for the team pursuit and the mass start.
“I’ve been struggling since Christmas,” she said. “Sometimes you go through those ups and downs. I was just feeling tired and things weren’t going right.”
On Saturday, Blondin regrouped to join the team pursuit and helped Canada to a sixth-place finish. Building on the confidence from that race, she hit the start line Sunday as an underdog of sorts, despite winning silver at last year’s world championships.
“I think I had less of a target on my back this weekend,” she said. “Everyone saw how I did in the 3,000 metres. They probably figured I was really tired. I think I was underestimated today.”
Alex Boisvert-Lacroix was underestimated by virtually everybody heading into this season. On Sunday, the 28-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que. put down a stellar performance at his first long track world championships with a combined time of 69.788 over two races to claim bronze in the men’s 500 metres.
“My first race was so-so,” Boisvert-Lacroix said. “I didn’t come in right in the second turn and I lost a lot of speed. Still, I had a good start, which helped me stay in contention.”
William Dutton of Humboldt, Sask., came in seventh in both races and finished eighth overall.
Gilmore Junio, of Calgary, placed 19th overall.