Speed skating gold medal a blast from the Canadian past
Ivanie Blondin conjured up a blast from the Canadian past with a gold medal in the 3,000-metres at a speed skating World Cup in Erfurt, Germany, on Sunday.
A Canadian woman hadn’t won World Cup gold at this distance since Cindy Klassen turned the trick in March 2006. Kristina Groves also did it at the World Championships in 2008.
It was Blondin’s fourth medal of the World Cup season and first gold, and vaults the Ottawa native into the Pyeongchang Olympics next month on a serious high.
“I think this whole week, I’ve had a really calm mindset; I just did what I had to do and focused on the right things,” said Blondin, who finished in 4:04.86 to beat Antoinette de Jong, of The Netherlands, (4:05.45) and Martina Sablikova, of the Czech Republic, (4:05.91).
“It was a great race, super steady. I was conservative in the beginning a little bit and I think that it helped me maintain the right pace today on this ice.”
Alex Boisvert-Lacroix, of Sherbrooke, Que., won a bronze in the men’s 500 metres, and was just .15 behind race winner Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen, of Norway. Jan Smeekens, of The Netherlands took silver.
“My coach over the last four seasons, Gregor Jelonek, told me that I could even have won the race,” said Boisvert-Lacroix. “Over the last few meters, I tensed up when I felt the Norwegian skater in my pair (Holmefjord Lorentzen) gain some ground on me. But these are adjustments we will make before the Games.”
Canadian skaters won 22 medals through the first five World Cups of the season, matching the total gleaned by the previous squad heading into the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. It’s also 12 more than the team managed prior to Sochi 2014.
On the podium for the first time
Moguls skier Justine Dufour-Lapointe stood at the top of the podium for the first time this season and enjoyed the view, perhaps more than ever before.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud to win a World Cup,” she said at Mont Tremblant, on Saturday. “The start of the season was a little rockier, but I’m really happy to finally get to this point. Today the crowd gave me that energy boost I needed, and I appreciated it all day long.”
Fellow Canadian Andi Naude was right on her heels, winning silver.
“I’m thrilled to be on the podium today right before the Games,” said Naude. “I think this was one of the most enjoyable competition days I’ve ever had. I was able to do my back full on the top air and that jump was fun because we had to approach it as fast as possible and go as big as possible. I liked pushing my limits.
“Going into the Games with a second-place finish and sharing the podium with my teammate is more than I could have hoped for.”
In men’s action, overall World Cup leader Mikael Kingsbury was denied a 14th straight win when Ikuma Horishima bumped him down to silver. The margin of victory was just .61 points.
“I skied my best but Ikuma did a run that I couldn’t beat. I made a tiny error before the bottom jump, and the jump wasn’t my best, and he is completely deserving of his win,” said Kingsbury.
Bobsled bravado
The Canadian bobsled squad is heading into the Pyeongchang Olympics with confidence and great expectations.
Kaillie Humphries and Justin Kripps wrapped up overall titles in women’s and two-man action respectively this weekend by finishing on the podium yet again at a World Cup in Konigssee, Germany.
With Alex Kopacz in the back seat, Kripps took bronze in the two-man race and will head to Pyeongchang as the top two-man driver on the circuit. It’s his first title. He’s also fourth in the fourman standings.
Humphries, who won her fourth overall championship, was paired on Saturday with Phylicia George to win a silver in Konigssee.
The only other time two Canadian sleds secured overall titles was 2013, when Humphries and Lyndon Rush were on top.
“Winning the overall is absolutely huge,” said Kripps. “It’s been a dream of mine since I started driving. I’m really proud of both Alex and Jesse (Lumsden) who both pushed very well to share the twoman workload. It’s incredible we didn’t finish worse than fourth the whole season.”
Kripps drove to a gold, three silver, a bronze and three fourthplace finishes in the eight World Cup stops this season.
Humphries also had a consistent campaign, with three wins, five podiums and a ninth-place finish. She had both George and Melissa Lotholz in her sled this season.
“Phylicia gets better each race and that is great to see,” said Humphries. “It has been a long road for Melissa. She has grown so much the last couple of years. Winning the overall is nice to see the hard work all of us have put in pay off.”
Simmerling to miss the Games
Georgie Simmerling crashed and broke her left leg in ski cross action at Nakiska on Saturday, and will miss the Pyeongchang Olympics. She was fourth overall on the World Cup and was seen as a medal contender.