Blondin makes presence felt on speedskating oval
Ivanie Blondin felt like she was about to vomit Thursday and nearly toppled over after crossing the finish line of the women’s 3,000 metres at the Olympic Oval.
The Ottawa native won the selection race in a blazing time of four minutes, 5.95 seconds to lock up a spot on Canada’s World Cup team in long-track speedskating.
Her body protested, violently, as she attempted to peel off her skates on the bench. In fact, it took her 30 minutes to muster the energy to trudge about 100 metres to a nearby row of stationary bikes. Such is life for Canada’s top distance speedskaters as they fight to shave fractions of seconds off their split times in their quest for glory at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The human body naturally protests when pushed to the absolute max.
“I just get salivation in my mouth as if I’m going to puke,” the world champion in the new Olympic discipline of the mass start said as she gingerly pushed the pedals. “The lactic acid is in your veins. It’s in your head. It’s everywhere. I always have a headache post-race. I feel like I’m going to collapse.”
After a long summer to mull over a forgettable performance in the 3,000 metres at the 2015 world championships, Blondin arrived at the Oval Thursday under immense pressure to start the 2016-17 campaign off right.
“Today is the first real race of the season,” she said, her cheeks flushed. “I think the more stressed you are for a race, then as soon as you cross the finish line, your whole body is filled with emotion, filled with lactic acid, filled with absolutely everything you could possibly feel. It’s kind of a relief for me too, seeing the time I posted today.”
By her lofty standards, Blondin posted a sluggish time of 4.15.52 seconds in the 3,000 metres to finish 17th at the 2015 world championships in Kolomna, Russia. Crushed, she sat out the 5,000 metres to rest up for her specialty in the mass start. Surging to the front on the final lap, Blondin dropped in ahead of Korea’s Bo-Reum Kim and Japan’s Miho Takagi for the victory in that event. That didn’t stop the Canadian from conducting a post-mortem on the 2015-16 season in hopes of avoiding a repeat. As a result, she changed things up over the summer and is now training with a group of Canadian men that includes Ted-Jan Bloemen, the world record holder in the 10,000 metres, and four-time Olympic medallist Denny Morrison.
Blondin is also excited about the prospects for the rest of the Canadian women’s distance team. Isabelle Weidemann, of Ottawa, skated to second place in Thursday’s 3,000 metres in 4:08.61. Josie Spence, of Kamloops, captured third in 4.11.80.
In the men’s 5,000 metres, Bloemen finished first in 6:15.41 followed by Jordan Belchos, of Thornhill, Ont. in second and rising star Ben Donnelly, of Oshawa, Ont., in third.