Canada's Dubreuil, Blondin skate to silver medals at World Cup season finale in the Netherlands

CBC Sports

· Posted: Mar 02, 2025 12:52 PM EST | Last Updated: March 2

Canadian velocity skaters Ivanie Blondin and Laurent Dubreuil claimed silver medals connected Sunday at the last halt of the agelong way World Cup circuit in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

The 32-year-old Dubreuil secured 2nd spot successful the men's 500-metre standings with a clip of 34.51 seconds successful the season's last race, conscionable 0.05 behind Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Koshkin .

Dubreuil edged Dutch favourite Jenning de Boo by 0.01 seconds.

WATCH l Dubreuil takes metallic in 500m:

"It was a bully contention and I'm truly happy. I would person loved to triumph gold, and I was beauteous close, lone 0.05 seconds off," Dubreuil said successful a property release. "I americium starting to consciousness a spot of fatigue from a afloat play of racing. I didn't unfastened arsenic rapidly arsenic I could oregon arsenic rapidly arsenic I did successful erstwhile weeks, but I'm inactive skating precise well.

"I was blessed to beryllium capable to person a bully thigh and prime up immoderate bully speed, adjacent if my legs were a spot little explosive than past week."

Dubreuil, who hails from Lévis, Que., finishes the play with 476 points successful the distance. He won a brace of silvers last week successful Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland. 

American prima Jordan Stolz topped the standings with 568 points.

"Finishing 2nd successful the wide rankings is good. And winning six 500m medals successful 1 season, contempt dealing with an wounded successful the fall, makes this 1 of my champion seasons," Dubreuil said.

The two-time Olympian has won 42 vocation World Cup medals (6 gold, 22 silver, 14 bronze), on with a metallic medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympics and 10 world title medals.

Ottawa's Blondin, 34, ended her World Cup run connected a high note, earning a second-place decorativeness down two-time wide commencement satellite champion Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands.

Groenewoud's clip of 8:27.52 was a mere 0.02 seconds faster than Blondin's successful the 16-lap contention astatine Heerenveen's Thialf oval.

Blondin made a courageous determination connected the wrong country heading into the last lap, catapulting her into the lead. She appeared destined for her archetypal wide commencement triumph of the play until Groenewould turned it up down the stretch, edging the three-time Olympian astatine the line.

Mia Manganello of the United States captured the bronze medal with a clip of 8:27.62.

WATCH l Blondin claims wide commencement silver:

"I consciousness beauteous bully astir the wide start," Blondin said. "I picked a choky enactment coming retired of the past country and benignant of fiddled my mode through. Marijke conscionable had much velocity coming from the outer lane. It was a truly choky finish, but breathtaking that way. I was truly blessed with my performance."

It was Blondin's third wide commencement medal of the play aft winning bronze past week successful Poland and a metallic earlier this twelvemonth successful Nagano, Japan.

Blondin, the top-ranked Canadian successful the event, placed fourth successful the standings with 223 points. Groenewoud finished successful apical spot with 340 points, 93 much than the second-ranked Manganello.

Blondin and teammate Anders Johnson of Burnaby, B.C., aboriginal placed fifth successful the mixed relay to adjacent the day.

Canada's agelong trackers volition adjacent vie astatine the world single-distances championships successful Hamar, Norway, from March 13-16.

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