Canada takes speedskating silver in men’s team sprint at World Cup stop

HEERENVEEN, Netherlands – Canada won the silver medal in the men’s team sprint Saturday at a World Cup long track speedskating stop.

Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., Montreal’s Christopher Fiola and Ottawa’s Vincent de Haitre finished with a time of one minute 20.29 seconds for their second podium finish of the season.

The United States (1:19.97) won gold while Poland (1:20.58) took bronze.

“The race was very similar to the one where we won gold earlier this season,” said Dubreuil. “Today, we even were three tenths of a second faster. However, there was a greater number of teams today than there was for the first race of the season. The level was higher.”

In other competition, Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin finished 10th in the women’s mass start, stopping her string of consecutive podium finishes in the event at nine.

“I’m really upset. It’s not fun losing. It’s one of the things I hate most in life. I’m a really competitive person. It’s obviously hard for me and I struggle a lot with that,” said Blondin, whose last absence from the podium in the mass start event dates back to the spring of 2015, at the World Cup Final.

“There is a little consolation in knowing that I’m the one that has the biggest target on my back, that I’m the one the other skaters are gunning for. For the future, I need to be more smart about it and not be as stubborn about leading all the time.”