HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Ivanie Blondin enters break, after third, two-medal World Cup effort this season

By Martin Cleary

The rhythmic pumping of her arms and legs has quieted. Her engine has geared down and stopped. The skin-tight competition suits, long-bladed skates and sunglasses have been granted some time off.

It’s break time for long-track World Cup speed skater Ivanie Blondin of Gloucester. And well deserved, too.

Here’s the by-the-numbers review of the first segment of Blondin’s 14th World Cup season: two continents, four countries, 20 medal races plus four semifinals, seven medals (one gold, five silver, one bronze), 14 top-10 finishes, and 208 laps for 83,200 metres skated.

After starting in Obihiro, Japan, moving to Beijing and then to Stavanger, Norway, Blondin and the Canadian long-track speed skating team ended their overseas tour in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland. And for the third time this season, Blondin, 33, collected two World Cup medals.

While she finished two of her three individual skates in the top 10, she produced silver medals in the team pursuit with a new member in the three-skater cast as well as the mass start.

“I’m happy to have finished the weekend on a high note with a sixth in the 1,000 metres and a silver (mass start),” Blondin said in a Speed Skating Canada press release. “I’m also very excited to go home and get some well-deserved rest to recover from the illness still affecting me from China.”

Blondin’s second-place finish in the mass start in eight minutes, 42.94 seconds gave her a second silver-medal in the discipline this season, after she won the opening race in Obihiro. A disqualification in Stavanger because she was part of a group of skaters who were lapped near the end, slightly hurt her third-place World Cup ranking in the mass start.

“I’m happy with [Sunday’s] outcome. Unfortunately, a mistake on the final turn with how I set myself up cost me the gold, but that’s OK,” she added. “I’ll remember the next time.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think there are enough camera angles for how dirty it can be at times. I think this cost Val (Maltais) a medal today, too, which was also unfortunate.”

Irene Schouten of The Netherlands won the mass start in 8:42.90, while Blondin was 0.04 seconds behind and American Mia Kilburg-Manganello was even closer in third in 8:42.95. Maltais finished sixth in the 16-lap mass start race.

Blondin’s first weekend silver medal came in the team pursuit with Maltais of La Baie, PQ, and Béatrice Lamarche of Quebec City. It was Lamarche’s first World Cup medal.

Lamarche was skating with Blondin and Maltais for the first time, replacing Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann, who returned home to Calgary after the Beijing World Cup stop to focus her preparation on the second half of the season and the 2024 world single-distance championships Feb. 15-18 on the Calgary oval.

Weidemann, Blondin and Maltais have skated together since the 2018-19 World Cup season and dominated the team pursuit race. They were the overall World Cup champions for four straight seasons (2020-23) and combined to win nine gold, four silver and two bronze medals as well as one fourth-place result.

In its team pursuit race, Canada was pitted against The Netherlands and finished in 3:03.24. The Dutch squad was disqualified as one of its skaters wasn’t wearing the required time transponder. Japan posted its second consecutive team pursuit victory in 3:00.35.

A three-time Canadian record holder, Blondin skated five medal races for the fourth consecutive competition. She also was sixth over 1,000 metres in 1:16.92, seventh in the 1,500 metres in 1:59.42 and 11th in the 3,000-metre race in 4:14.61.

Vincent De Haître of Cumberland was equally busy. He placed 17th in the men’s division A 1,000 metres in 1:10.44, which was .64 seconds out of a podium placement. In three division B races, he was second in the 1,500 metres in 1:48.65, third in the team pursuit with Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu and Connor Howe and 23rd over 500 metres in 36.40.

INTERESTING FACT: Blondin is ranked sixth overall on Adelskalender, which ranks long-track speed skaters based on their all-time, career personal records over 500, 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 metres. She has 156.574 points. Canadian Cindy Klassen is ranked No. 1 at 154.560 points.

GEE-GEES TURN BACK RAVENS TWICE IN OUA BASKETBALL

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees swept the Carleton University Ravens in a pair of year-ending OUA men’s and women’s basketball games on their home Montpetit Hall court.

And they did it in contrasting styles.

The Gee-Gees received a basket from Jacques-Melaine Guemeta with no time on the clock to edge the Ravens 79-78 in the men’s game, and Ottawa had four players in double figures to roll past Carleton 74-56 in the women’s match.

Wazir Latiff gave the Ravens a short-lived 78-77 lead with 10 seconds remaining before Guemeta gave the Gee-Gees the victory with his decisive buzzer-beating basket.

Kevin Otoo led the Gee-Gees with 23 points, four steals and three rebounds, while Khalifa Koulamallah supported with 17 points, three steals and two rebounds.

Xavier Spencer was the top scorer for the Ravens with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Latiff finished with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Mayok Okado notched 13 points and three rebounds.

Aline Saumure produced game-high numbers with 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals to spark the Gee-Gees’ women’s team. Allie McCarthy contributed 17 points and five rebounds, Natsuki Szczokin tossed in 15 points and added five assists and Melina De Iulio had 10 points and three rebounds.

The Ravens were led by Kali Pocrnic with 15 points and four rebounds, Kyana-Jade Poulin with 13 points and three rebounds and Jacqueline Urban with 12 points and five rebounds.

The No. 1-ranked Gee-Gees men’s team remains in first place in the OUA East Conference at 10-0, while Ottawa and Carleton now share top spot in the women’s standings at 9-1.

ANTOINE CYR IMPRESSES IN WORLD CUP NORDIC SKI RACES

Gatineau’s Antoine Cyr of Skinouk had two top-25 results at World Cup cross-country ski races in Oestersund, Sweden.

He placed 16th in the men’s sprint, narrowly missing the quarterfinals, and was 24th in the 10-kilometre skate race.

Katherine Stewart-Jones was Canada’s top women’s skier, when the Nakkertok athlete was 34th in the sprint and 36th in the 10-kilometre skate race.

At the Alberta Cup, Anna Stewart of Nakkertok won the senior women’s sprint and 7.5-kilometre skate races, while clubmate Clara Hegan was second in the women’s U20 7.5-kilometre race. Chelsea Nordiq skiers Ry Prior and Tory Audet were first in the men’s U20 sprint and second in the women’s U20 sprint respectively.

In the Canadian Youth Olympic Games trials, Addison Frank of Nakkertok was sixth in the women’s sprint, but didn’t finish the distance race. As a result, she wasn’t considered for selection to the Games in Gangwon, Korea.

CHANTAL OSBORNE RINK 6^TH AT CANADIAN WOMEN’S SENIOR CURLING

Gatineau’s Chantal Osborne of the Thurso Curling Club, Josée Friolet, Marie-Josée Précourt, Sylvie Daniel and alternate Joelle Sabourin finished sixth at the Everest Canadian women’s senior curling championship in Vernon, B.C.

After placing second in pool B at 5-1, the Osborne rink lost four consecutive matches to Alberta, Northern Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia to finish with a 5-5 record.

At the national men’s senior curling championship at the Vernon Curling Club, the Russell Curling Club rink of Bryan Cochrane, Ian MacAuley, Graham Sinclair, Ken Sullivan and alternate John Rothwell missed qualifying for the championship round.

The Cochrane squad went 3-3 in its Pool A games and finished fifth, which was one spot shy of advancing to the championship round of eight teams. In the seeding pool, the Ontario champion defeated Nunavut, Alberta and Northern Ontario to win the group for ninth place overall.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

· Collinda Joseph of Stittsville and Denny Thiessen of Sanford, MB., will represent Canada at the 2024 world wheelchair curling mixed doubles championship March 10-16 in Gangneung, Korea.

· The Canadian women’s rugby team fell 19-17 to Fiji and finished sixth at the HSBC Sevens tour stop in Cape Town, South Africa. After placing second in its pool at 2-1, Canada lost 41-0 to New Zealand in the quarterfinals to drop to the fifth-/sixth-place game. Ottawa’s Olivia De Couvreur was on the Canadian women’s roster. Ottawa’s Cody Nhanala played for the Canadian men’s team, which placed seventh at the same event.

· Belgium shut out Canada 12-0 on Monday for its worst defeat at the Junior World Cup men’s field hockey championship in Malaysia. After losing all three pool games – 7-0 to Spain, 4-1 to South Korea and 10-1 to India – Canada dropped its classification game to Belgium and will play Egypt on Wednesday in its first of two games in the 13th- to 16th-place round. Midfielder Callan McCulloch of Chelsea, PQ., is on the Canadian roster.

· Ottawa’s Mirela Rahneva was slower than normal off the start and kept losing ground in her two runs as she placed 18th in the women’s World Cup skeleton competition in La Plagne, France. She won the bronze medal in Beijing at the last World Cup.

· Rachel Homan will have four curling matches over the next four days at the Masters Grand Slam in Saskatoon, facing Clancy Grandy of Vancouver on Tuesday, Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland on Wednesday, Anna Hasselborg of Sweden on Thursday and Eun-Jung Kim of Korea on Friday.

· Canada narrowed the gap in comparison to recent meetings, but still took the silver medal behind USA at the 2023 Para Hockey Cup in New Brunswick, falling 3-0 in the championship game. Anton Jacobs-Webb scored in Canada’s win over Czechia, while fellow Sledge Hockey of Eastern Ontario products Tyrone Henry, Rob Armstrong and rookie Sam Swafford also played for Team Canada, which equalled the Americans’ 13 shots on goal in the final. Canada also beat China twice at the event en route to the final.