HIGH ACHIEVERS: Ivanie Blondin, Tyrone Henry repeat as Ottawa Sports Awards athletes of the year

By Martin Cleary

Gloucester’s Ivanie Blondin made history Wednesday and she didn’t have to tie up her long-track speed skating boots, keep a specific pace around the oval or even glance at the scoreboard in the end.

The Ottawa Sports Awards committee took care of that hard work and rewarded one of Ottawa’s greatest Olympians with yet another special moment, after she had put in her fair share of hard work during the 2025 calendar year.

For a record seventh time, Blondin has been named the Ottawa Sports Awards female athlete of the year, putting her one ahead of Kristina Groves, the city’s most accomplished Olympic speed skater and a four-time Winter Games medallist.

Para hockey defenceman Tyrone Henry was selected the top male athlete for the second straight year and the third time in his career.

Fabienne Blizzard of the Capital Courts Academy and Canada Basketball, and Glenroy Gilbert of Athletics Canada are repeat winners for the second and sixth times of the respective women’s and men’s coach of the year honours.

The teams of the year are the Capital Courts Academy girls’ basketball squad and the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club’s men’s U20 4×400-metre relay team.

All the major award winners will be celebrated at the Ottawa Sports Awards dinner Feb. 4, 2026, at the Infinity Convention Centre. Tickets are available at OttawaSportsAwards.ca.

The Mayor’s Cup recipient and three lifetime achievement award winners were announced last week.

Read More: Ottawa Sports Awards honouring four legendary figures, including Mayor’s Cup winner Marci Morris

The individual sport athletes of the year in more than 65 sports and more than 60 championship-winning teams as well as the recipients of the Spirit of Sport Award, Special Recognition Award and Community Sport Endowment Award will be announced at a later date.

Blondin’s best performances happened at the end of the 2024-25 season and the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign.

At the 2025 world single-distance speed skating championships in Hamar, Norway, Blondin excelled with two silver and one bronze medals as well as two other top-10 results. Canada won four medals at the world championships.

She placed second in the women’s mass start and the team sprint. On the heels of a disappointing sixth-place overall finish in the World Cup women’s team pursuit standings, Blondin, Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais of La Baie, PQ, earned the bronze medal at worlds in the team pursuit.

Blondin also recorded eighth-place results at worlds in the 1,500- and 3,000-metre races.

During the first four World Cup stops on the 2025-26 World Cup circuit, Blondin, Weidemann and Maltais put together one first-place result and a pair of seconds to capture the World Cup women’s team pursuit title.

For the 2025 calendar year, which covers two seasons, Blondin won a total of 12 World Cup medals.

At the Four Continents speed skating championships, she struck gold in the mass start and team sprint, and collected the bronze medal in the 1,500 metres and 3,000 metres.

Henry played a key defensive role in helping Canada win the silver medal at the 2025 world para hockey championship in Buffalo. He earned two assists in the global event.

After winning its first four games, including a 3-0 semi-final decision over Czechia, Canada outscored its opponents 30-2. But in the final Canada lost 6-1 to the United States.

Heading into the world championships, Henry’s steady play allowed Canada to win silver medals at the Para Cup and the International Para Hockey Cup. An alternate captain for the Canadian team, Henry is heading for his third Paralympic Winter Games at Milano Cortina, Italy, in March, after silver-medal efforts in 2018 and 2022.

Henry also is a member of and a volunteer with Sledge Hockey of Eastern Ontario.

Fabienne Blizzard had reason to celebrate locally as well as internationally as a basketball coach.

She guided her Capital Courts Academy team, which is based out of Cairine Wilson Secondary School, to a perfect 12-0 regular-season record in the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association league and a second career playoff championship.

Capital Courts also played in the inaugural Women’s National Preparatory Association league and posted a second-place record of 9-1.

Blizzard was named coach of the year in both the OSBA and WNPA leagues.

Internationally, Canada’s U16 women’s basketball team earned the silver medal under Blizzard’s leadership at the FIBA AmeriCup championship. That result allowed Canada to secure a berth in the 2026 FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup.

For the sixth time in 13 years, Glenroy Gilbert was selected the men’s coach of the year for his excellence in shaping Canada’s successful track and field squad as the head coach. He also won the same award in 2022, 2021, 2016, 2015 and 2013.

He guided Canada through one of its most successful world athletics championships in Tokyo. Canada finished third overall with three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

Gilbert watched race walker Evan Dunfee and hammer throwers Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg win gold medals, while the silver went to the men’s 4×100-metre relay team of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse and the bronze was taken by 800-metre runner Marco Arop.

At the North American, Central American and Caribbean track and field championships, Canada produced three gold-medal winners as part of a 13-medal package. A sprint and relay specialist, Gilbert also helped build the mixed 4×100-metre relay team, which won the gold medal at the World Athletics Relays.

The Capital Courts Academy girls’ basketball team had an historic season, completing its first perfect Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association in 2024-25. The team went 12-0 in the regular season and rallied in the second half to defeat long-time rival and defending champion Crestwood 72-57 in the final.

First-time winners of the Ottawa Sports Awards women’s team of the year, Capital Courts thrived on a potent offence and an excellent defence during its season, which also included a 9-1, second-place showing in the inaugural Women’s National Preparatory Association league.

Megan Hollingsworth was named the OSBA’s MVP, while Jahda Denis was the defensive player of the year and Fabienne Blizzard was the coach of the year. Patricia Augustin won the WNPA defensive player-of-the-year award, while Hollingsworth was recognized as the MVP and Blizzard as the top coach.

One relay race produced four records for Shangai Ayoub, Ange-Mathis Kramo, William Sanders and Zachary Jeggo of the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club and earned the four sprinters the Ottawa Sports Awards men’s team of the year honour.

A time of three minutes, 10.62 seconds in the 4×400-metre relay allowed the Lions quartet to not only win the gold medal in the men’s U20 race at the Canadian track and field championships in Ottawa, but also break the 12-year-old U20 championship meet record, the U20 Athletics Canada national record, the Lions’ all-time club senior relay record and the Canadian open club record, which stood at 3:11.02 since 2014.

They previously owned the U20 national record, since they had established a new standard at the Ontario championships at 3:14.80. The old record was a hand-timed mark of 3:15.0 set in 1972.

The relay team’s performance helped the Lions win the U20 overall club titles at the national and provincial championships.

Individually, Jeggo, who was the relay anchor, also was the men’s U20 400-metre hurdles champion at nationals. At the Canada Summer Games, he earned a silver medal over 400 metres.

PARA ALPINE SKIER ALEXIS GUIMOND RACES TO SECOND WORLD CUP DOWNHILL SILVER

A strong finish delivered a silver medal to para alpine skier Alexis Guimond of Gatineau in the men’s standing class during the second World Cup downhill race at Santa Caterina, Italy.

For the second straight day, Switzerland’s Robin Cuche and Guimond were the 1-2 combo with respective times of one minute, 7.79 seconds and 1:08.42.

“It wasn’t an easy day with snow at the start and rain afterwards,” Guimond told Sportcom in an interview. “My form is still good and I think the result proved it. It was a very good race today and I think we are going in the right direction.

“I’m really happy with my week in Italy. Last season, we weren’t lucky with the downhills, several of which were cancelled because of the weather. I’m feeling really good in speed so far this year.”

Guimond has two gold (both super-Gs) and two silver medals so far on the World Cup circuit this season.

Kalle Eriksson of Kimberley, B.C., and guide Sierra Smith of Ottawa were second in the visually-impaired downhill.

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