HACHINOHE — Ivanie Blondin led the way in a five-medal day for Canada at the Four Continents speedskating championships on Sunday.
The Ottawa native won gold in the women's mass start with a time of nine minutes 23.28 seconds. It was the 34-year-old’s third individual distance medal of the weekend, having also captured bronze in both the 1,500 metres and 3,000.
In the men's mass start, David La Rue of Saint-Lambert, Que., and Toronto's Hayden Mayeur captured silver and bronze.
La Rue was leading entering the final lap, but a slight slip exiting the final corner allowed Kazakhstan’s Vitaliy Chshigolev to gain ground and outstretch him at the finish line.
“I am really happy to have reached the podium with Hayden today," La Rue said. "It’s kind of funny because we were talking strategy before the race and told ourselves that we would stay behind to conserve our energy, but in the end that’s not at all what happened.
"There was an attack early in the race and the peloton didn’t react at all. I started accelerating on the outside and looked at Hayden, and we decided to go. We worked together until the end of the race so that the rest of the peloton couldn’t catch up. The Kazakh skater managed to close the gap."
Mayeur also earned bronze in the men’s team pursuit, alongside teammates Connor Howe of Canmore, Alta., and Calgary's Ted-Jan Bloemen. The new skater lineup crossed the finish line in 3:47.43, placing them behind Japan (3:44.47) and the United-States (3:43.13).
“We weren’t as quick as he had hoped to be, but this is a new team pursuit group," Mayeur said. "Ted-Jan is back in the mix for these Four Continents and the upcoming World Cups, so we were just finding our bearings as a team skating together.
"All things considered; we really were not that far off from being competitive for the top spot. We were able to extract a lot of information from this first race together so that we improve and contest for a medal at the upcoming World Cup."
Laurent Dubreuil of Lévis, Que., earned his second individual distance medal of the weekend, taking bronze in the men’s 1,000. The 32-year-old sprinter posted a time of 1:09.52.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2024.
The Canadian Press
