Boisvert-Lacroix Wins Silver/Ivanie Blondin Grabs Bronze

Alex Boisvert-Lacroix grabbed Silver in the men’s 500m while Ivanie Blondin nailed down a Bronze in the Women’s mass start at the ISU World Cup Long Track Speed Skating competition in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Canada tallied four medals at this fourth stage of the World Cup season, which included a Bronze in the 500m by Boisvert-Lacroix and Gold in the men’s team sprint.

This earned a total of 23 podium results since the start of the 2015-2016 season which is the best performance by the Canadian team since it won 29 in the 2009-2010 season.

Alex Boisvert-Lacroix (Sherbrooke) was again on the podium in the second men’s 500m as he grabbed Silver with a time of 34.76.

Ruslan Murashov of Russia had a time of 34.67 and won Gold, while Norway’s Espen Aarnes Hvammen  skated to a time of 34,86 took home the Bronze.

Skating in the race’s last pairing, the 28-year-old was matched up (first time ever) with World Cup standings leader Pavel Kulizhnikov.

The Russian skater fell coming out of the first turn, however, letting Boisvert-Lacroix finish his race alone.

From the outside lane, Boisvert-Lacroix registered his best-ever time off the start, i.e. 9.48 seconds.

That was also the best time of the day in that section, which led to both Boisvert-Lacroix and Kulizhnikov being almost nose to nose coming out of the first turn.

In addition to Boisvert-Lacroix, two additional Canadian skaters finished in the top-5 of the competition.

Alexandre St-Jean of Québec City ended up one hundredth of a second away from the podium, finishing fourth with a time of 34.87, only to be followed by Laurent Dubreuil (34.90) of Lévis, QC, who was fifth.

Gilmore Junio of Calgary was 13th (35.183) while William Dutton of Humboldt, SK, was 18th (35.44).

In the women’s 500m, Heather McLean of Winnipeg, MB, was 10th in 38.30. Marsha Hudey of White City, SK finished 16th in 38.73

A bronze for Ivanie Blondin

Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin (25) grabbed her fourth (4th) medal in as many races this season in the women’s mass start and nailed down her second Bronze medal, but is striving to grab her first win this season in this event.

Japan’s Misaki Oshigiri won gold while silver went to Dutch skater Carien Kleibeuker. The leader in overall mass start World Cup standings, Irene Schouten of the Netherlands, had to settle for 10th place.

That was the last mass start race on the World Cup schedule before the one slated for the World Cup Finals.

Blondin, the reining World Cup champion in that discipline, is presently second in mass start standings with 300 points, behind Schouten who has 316 points.

In the men’s mass start, Toronto’s Jordan Belchos placed seventh while Whitby Ontario’s Rob Watson of Whitby finished 22nd in the standings.

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