Nerves get to Blondin
Ottawa native finishes women’s 3,000-metre event in sixth spot
GANGNEUNG — In the two weeks leading up to the women’s 3,000-metre long track event, Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin felt every bit the medal contender she was. On race day at the Gangneung Oval, not so much.
Uncharacteristically nervous as she awaited her Saturday night start time, Blondin was off her form throughout.
She slipped to sixth place and well off the podium in her bid to become Canada’s first medal winner of these Games.
“I was trying to talk myself all day to not stress out and not be nervous but you can’t really control those things,” Blondin said. “I was nervous all day.
“In World Cups I’ve learned to really decompress and not stress out about them too much. Here at the Games it’s something different.”
If Blondin was crushed with her day, the rest of the field was orange crushed. The perennial powerhouse Dutch weren’t expected to dominate here but ended up sweeping the podium, just as they did four years earlier in Sochi.
Carlijn Achtereekte was the shocker taking gold despite racing from the fifth of 12 pairings while Ireen Wust took silver and Antoinette de Jong bronze.
Blondin was clocked in a time of 4 minutes 4.41 seconds just ahead of fellow Canadian Isabelle Weidemann (4:04.26).
“I’m obviously really disappointed, sixth position isn’t exactly what I wanted, especially after two weeks ago getting a gold medal (in a World Cup event in Erfurt, Germany),” Blondin said post race. “It’s frustrating, it’s disappointing. All week I felt really fast and I’ve been really strong all season. My expectations were there. It happens. I’m human and we make mistakes.
“I can’t really explain the Dutch sweeping. It happened in Sochi and it happened now and we haven’t really seen it in four years. Explanation? I have no idea.”
Achtereekte said starting in an early pairing eased the pressure.
“For me it’s easier because you can skate your own flow and focus on yourself,” the upstart gold medallist said. “What I had in my head, the plan, it was almost perfect.”