Canada wins four medals on last day of ISU World Cup Long Track stage in Norway
STAVANGER, Norway — Ivanie Blondin led the way as the Canadian long track speed skating team won four medals on Sunday — the last day of the second stage of the ISU World Cup season.
Blondin grabbed silver in the women’s 5,000 metres and has unofficially pre-qualified for the Olympic Games in that distance with a time of six minutes 57.34.
The Ottawa native entered the event in a position to pre-qualify directly for the Olympics in the 5,000 if she won a medal at one of the four World Cups this fall, which she successfully completed on Sunday.
“I haven’t been that much focused on pre-qualifying. In fact, I had completely forgot about it until I saw (national team coach) Bart (Schouten) after the race and he reminded me,” said Blondin. “In the moment, I had a surge of emotion overcome me and I started to cry. It’s such a great feeling.”