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By Dan Plouffe
Skating in the women’s portion of the final event of the day, Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin saved Canada from being held off the podium at its home World Cup speed skating meet with a rousing victory in the team sprint on Sunday in Calgary.
Competing in the final pair, Blondin anchored teammates Carolina Hiller and Béatrice Lamarche to the gold medal with a winning time of 1:24.90 to leap ahead of Poland by 1.12 seconds and bring the near-capacity Canadian crowd to its feet.
“It felt really nice to finally get onto the podium this weekend,” Blondin said via Speed Skating Canada. “As a training group, the middle and long distance skaters did two high-altitude camps and our legs were just not there this weekend. But the focus is always to peak at World Championships, and we try to remind ourselves that.
“I would have loved to hit the podium a few more times this weekend and not just this once, but I’m really satisfied to have done it with the girls in the team sprint. It was an incredible, collective effort and that’s what makes it so beautiful.”
Winners of two and four medals at the season’s first pair of World Cup meets, the Canadian team had been skunked before the team sprint triumph at the Calgary Olympic Oval, where Canadians earned 10 medals at last year’s world championships.
The Canadian skaters felt a little extra desire to perform well out of fear that it could be the last time Calgary hosts a major international competition, or any long-track speed skating meet for that matter.
The aging infrastructure from the 1988 Olympic venue is in desperate need of renewal and is at risk of catastrophic failure, reported Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press. The Oval had to shut down in 2020 due to a mechanical failure, and the Canadians are fearful it could happen again in the lead-up to next winter’s Olympics in Milano-Cortina.
“We’re not even sure if the ice system is going to hold up until we leave for the next Games,” Blondin told Spencer. “It’s hanging on by a thread right now. It’s uneasy feeling for all the athletes for sure.”
Always keeping a busy race schedule, Blondin had a rough opening race of the Calgary competition. She placed 11th in the women’s 5,000 metres in a time of 7:12.20 – 26.44 off the winning mark.
The 34-year-old Gloucester Concordes product’s 1,500 m event on Saturday went marginally better when she raced to 10th in 1:54.80, although she slowed on each lap.
Competing in her signature mass start discipline on Sunday, Blondin almost closed into a podium position as she placed .34 back of bronze in 8:44.97, but it was an unusual race as a leader jumped ahead early on and a chase group also survived before the peloton could catch up.
With U.S. skater Greta Myers so far ahead of the pack, Blondin’s skate escaped the view of the broadcast cameras as well as the CBC commentators, who called the action while watching the TV feed at a studio in Toronto instead of on-site in Calgary.
“It was a pretty tough weekend – I’m not going to lie,” Blondin told CBC reporter Devin Heroux after the race. “The 5k was hard – like, really hard, harder than I expected. The 1,500, I lost it in the last lap.
“And then in the mass start, it was hard to wrangle the troops. There was an early breakaway and it just stuck. Sometimes that happens and I think collectively we didn’t work enough to bring it back.
“I still had it in the final sprint, but at the end of the day, it saved my legs for the team sprint, so one medal – a gold medal – I’m happy with it, and I’m proud to do it with these girls.”
Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann was fifth in the women’s 5,000 m in 6:53.65, while her brother Jake placed 11th in the B division of the men’s 1,500 m.
Inglis Ottawa Hunt rink repeats as Ontario women’s curling champs
The Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club curling rink of skip Danielle Inglis, third Kira Brunton, second Calissa Daly and lead Cassandra de Groot will compete in their second career Scotties Tournament of Hearts after repeating as Ontario women’s curling champions in Cobourg.
“After an exciting week of curling, we are thrilled to have defended our title and have the opportunity to return to the Scotties as Team Ontario!” Team Inglis wrote on Facebook, while thanking their opponents for a great challenge. “We’d also like to thank our families, partners and fans for the unwavering support. We could not have achieved this without your help.”
Team Inglis lost its opening match 7-6 to Hollie Duncan at the provincials and then ran the table with six consecutive victories.
Inglis won the B side of the triple-knockout event with an 8-5 win over Chelsea Brandwood, beat Hailey Armstrong 9-5 in the 1-2 page playoff and then downed Brandwood again in the final 8-4.
Team Inglis earned half of their points in the championship game with steals in three ends while giving away none with hammer.
Inglis, 36, was voted the winner of Marj Mitchell Sportsmanship Award through a player vote at her first Scotties last year after her rink posted a 3-5 record.
The Rachel Homan Ottawa Curling Club rink are pre-qualified for the Feb. 14-23 Scotties in Thunder Bay as reigning Canadian and world champions.
Ottawa’s Lisa Weagle and Jamie Sinclair will play for Team Quebec at the Scotties, while Julia Weagle will skip Team Nunavut.
Gaby Dabrowski reaches Australian Open women’s doubles semis
Ottawa’s Gaby Dabrowski won four matches to reach the semi-final round of the Australian Open women’s doubles tournament in Melbourne.
Seeded third, Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe won each of their first three matches in three sets before a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory in the quarter-finals. In the semis, the 2023 U.S. Open champions fell to Su-Wei Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko 6-7, 6-3, 3-6.
Dabrowski, who won an Olympic bronze medal in mixed doubles last summer in Paris, earned half of her team’s $250,000 AUS ($226,255 CDN) payday for the semi-final appearance. Dabrowski also lost in the first round of the mixed doubles event with Sander Gille.
The Australian Open was Dabrowski’s first tournament since she’d announced on New Year’s Eve in a lengthy Instagram post that she’d been battling breast cancer last season, but she was now healthy thanks to early detection and treatment.
Karateka Furumoto-Deshais open season with international silver
University of Ottawa masters student Hana Furumoto-Deshais of Gatineau earned a silver medal in the women’s -55 kg division at her season-opening Karate1 Premier League event on Sunday in Paris.
The 28-year-old won five matches over opponents from Chile, Turkey, Italy, Japan and USA en route to the final, where she fell 5-3 to 2021 world champion Ahlam Youssef of Egypt.
“I am very proud of myself overall to win my first premier league silver medal, but of course, a bit bittersweet too because I was so close to the gold,” Furumoto-Deshais said via Karate Canada. “This gives me a lot of confidence and I’m very excited for what’s coming up given this strong start to the season. Hopefully, I’ll be participating in all of the K1 events, Pan Ams, World Games and World Championships this season, so it will be busy.”
Local diver Kate Miller takes national 10 m silver in Gatineau
Paris 2024 Olympian Kate Miller returned to the national capital area for Diving Canada’s 2025 Winter National Championships and won a silver medal in the women’s 10-metre platform event on Saturday at the Gatineau Sports Centre.
Miller posted a total of 351.30 to place second behind past Ontario teammate Katelyn Fung of Toronto, who won with 369.60.
“It’s nice to have a home crowd,” the Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club athlete told the Ottawa Sports Pages. “My parents, my grandparents, and a lot of people like my dad’s work friends, were all going to come watch, so it’s pretty exciting.”
The University of Southern California freshman had recently missed some training time and had a meet cancelled due to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
“The fires didn’t really get to us, but it really affected the whole city,” signalled the 19-year-old who placed fourth in the 10 m women’s synchro event in Paris. “It burned down some places that everyone wants to go to experience in their lifetime – like, I’ve always wanted to go to Malibu and I still hadn’t got the chance to.
“It’s really upsetting for a place that is so beautiful, and obviously a lot of families lost their homes, so it’s definitely been hard.”
The Ottawa National Diving Club’s Nika Ashoori made her senior nationals debut in Gatineau as the youngest athlete in the women’s 1 m springboard field. The Grade 10 John McCrae Secondary School student scored 166.10 to place 10th out of 11.
“I wasn’t expecting too much,” Ashoori reflected. “I knew I wasn’t going to be the one jumping into the lead or whatever, but I tried to keep a positive attitude and see what happened.”
Ottawa’s Rafael Serey-Cormier improved his score by 22.6 points from the prelims to the final, but didn’t rise in the rankings. The Grade 12 Louis-Riel high school placed seventh out of seven in the men’s 10 m with a total of 262.90 in the finals.
Serey-Cormier spent most of his career with NODC before recently switching to the meet host Gatineau club, which offered training times that better suited his schedule.
Look for more coverage of the diving nationals on OttawaSportsPages.ca later this week.
Helen McCulligh posts Canada’s best result at FISU Winter Games
Kanata Nordic and Carleton University Ravens athlete Helen McCulligh earned Canada’s best individual result of the FISU World Winter University Games in the women’s 20 km mass start classic to conclude competition in Torino, Italy.
McCulligh raced to 13th place in the field of 48 entrants with a time of 1:11:30.1 to finish within eight minutes of the winner from Estonia. The third-year Raven secured her Team Canada spot through December’s Candy Cane Cup at Nakkertok Nordic in Cantley, QC.
Chelsea Nordiq/University of Calgary’s Stella Duncan finished 28th in 1:22:25.6.
Read More: HIGH ACHIEVERS: Reaching FISU Games a ‘crowning achievement’ for nordic skier Stella Duncan
Fellow University of Calgary student Robin Mason of Ottawa was the top Canadian in the men’s 20 km classic in 29th place, while Chelsea/Université Laval’s Mats Halvorsen was 37th out of 77.
At the FIS World Cup in Switzerland, Nakkertok’s Katherine Stewart-Jones and Skinouk’s Antoine Cyr contributed to a sixth-place performance for Canada in the mixed 4×5 km relay.
Competing in his first World Cup of the season, Ottawa’s Pierre Grall-Johnson of Nakkertok placed 61st in qualification and did not earn a spot in the men’s sprint free heats. Stewart-Jones also placed 18th in the women’s 20 km mass start free.
Ravens basketball women comfortably keep perfect season intact
The Carleton University Ravens women’s basketball team maintained its perfect record in Ontario University Athletics play with a pair of weekend home-court victories over Laurentian and Nipissing.
Carleton forced 30 turnovers en route to a 69-48 win over Laurentian on Friday, and then plowed past Nipissing 72-57 the following evening to improve to 17-0.
Kyana-Jade Poulin led the Ravens in scoring in both contests with 16- and 20-point efforts.
The Ravens men improved to 14-3 with 83-55 and 90-45 victories over the same opponents.
The 15-2 University of Ottawa Gee-Gees men ran their OUA winning streak to 11 consecutive games by handling Nipissing and Laurentian 98-62 and 90-58 respectively.
The Gee-Gees women also improved to 15-2 as they escaped with a 73-70 overtime triumph over Laurentian and a decisive 79-47 win over Nipissing.
In women’s hockey, uOttawa moved into second place in the OUA East with 2-1 and 4-1 road victories over Windsor and Western, while last-place Carleton dropped to 5-16 with 8-0 and 3-1 losses at Nipissing and York.
The 14-8 Gee-Gees men beat Lakehead 4-2 in Thunder Bay, while the 12-10 Ravens men split their weekend road matches with a 6-3 win over Guelph and 6-4 loss to Brock.
The 5-9 Gee-Gees women’s volleyball team upset McMaster 3-1 in their first match in Hamilton but lost the second leg 3-0.
Ottawa sliders climbing international bobsled ranks
With pushing power from fellow Ottawa sliders Mike Evelyn O’Higgins and Keaton Bruggeling, Pat Norton finished in the top half of the field in a four-man bobsleigh World Cup competition at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
On the heels of his first career-best sixth place performance a week earlier, Norton finished 13th to keep his top-20 streak alive in all four of his 4-man starts this season.
Former Carleton Ravens and Saskatchewan Roughriders football player Jay Dearborn placed fifth out of 14 sleds in a North American Cup 4-man bobsleigh competition in Lake Placid, NY.
The 30-year-old Beijing 2022 Olympic brakeman moved into the driver’s seat last season and is currently ranked second overall on the North American Cup circuit for 4-man.
Dearborn also placed fifth in a 2-man event at Lake Placid but crashed during the second 2-man event after getting the second-best push start, which dropped him to seventh in the overall standings.
Ottawa brakeman Brandon Loewen also did not finish aboard the Cyrus Gray Canadian 4-man sled. Loewen earned a Nor Am bronze medal earlier this season with Dearborn in Whistler.
The Nor Am competition concludes with a final 4-man competition Monday.
Pushing for Beijing 2022 Olympian Kristen Bujnowski, Carleton Ravens rugby player Charlotte Ross had the best start times in both heats of the 2-woman event in Lake Placid.
The top-ranked pair finished fifth to miss the podium for the first this season in seven North American events. They will also race Monday in Lake Placid, which will host the 2025 world championships from Mar. 6-16.