Ivanie Blondin won two medals on Sunday at the Long Track Speed Skating World Cup in Nagano, Japan, helping Canada win its first ever mixed relay medal.
Blondin and Yankun Zhao were decorated with bronze in this new discipline added to the circuit last year. A few moments earlier, Blondin finished the mass start in second position.
The maple leaf therefore finished the first stage of the World Cup of the season with four medals. Blondin put on three of them.
“I knew it was possible to win a full set of medals this weekend,” Blondin said according to a Speed Skating Canada press release. Yankun and I have both competed in short track before, so we’re able to adapt well to missed exchanges and all kinds of unforeseen events.
“It’s cool to see that the sling shot [en longue piste] works just as well as the push we’re used to doing in short track. »
For Zhao, it was a first career podium.
“This first World Cup podium is very special, especially since it comes so early in my career,” he said. I find the mixed relay to be a very fun event. It’s nice to work with a teammate throughout the race, it makes me relive some of the feelings from when I was doing short track. »
In the mass start, Quebecer Valérie Maltais took seventh place. Laurent Dubreuil, for his part, finished the 500 meters in fourth place.
In the team pursuit event, the Canadians placed fourth and the Canadian women fifth.
The next stage of the World Cup will take place next weekend in Beijing, China.
