by Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin, Carolina Hiller of Prince George, BC, and Calgary’s Brooklyn McDougall were second in the women’s team sprint behind the United States and ahead of third-place Netherlands at the Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary on Saturday.
The Canadians finished in one minute 25.73 seconds to earn their second silver medal in as many races this season.
Three skaters from each country start the three-lap team sprint and go head-to-head against three skaters from another country on the track.
The Canadian women trailed the Dutch in the final matchup, but Blondin managed one final flying lap to lift the hosts to second, five-hundredths of a second behind the Americans (1:25.68) at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.
“I’m not a fast sprinter like these two girls, so I really have to chase them to try and stay on top of them,” Blondin.
“We’re getting used to skating together and I think we’re taking the right steps. He was very close to a gold medal.”
CLOCK | Canadian women win silver medal in team sprint:
Canadians Carolina Hiller, Brooklyn McDougall and Ivanie Blondin finished second in the women’s team sprint event at a World Cup speed skating event in Calgary.
Earlier on Saturday, Canadian Laurent Dubreuil clinched the bronze medal in the men’s 500m event.
The 30-year-old Quebec City native crossed the line in 34.10 seconds, beating Japan’s Yuma Murakami by 0.02 seconds to reach the podium.
South Korea’s Kim Jun-ho grabbed his first win this season (34.07), while American teenager Jordan Stolz’s 34.08 broke his own junior world record.
His fellow Canadian Christopher Fiola finished 11th in 34.67.
CLOCK | Dubreuil runs towards 500m bronze:
The Quebec City native finished third in the men’s 500m World Cup race in Alberta.
‘The best fall season of my career’
Dubreuil is the current World Cup champion in the 500.
He has won twice and has yet to finish on the podium in four races to start this season to top the standings again.
“What you need to make your worst race really good is how to win the overall,” Dubreuil said.
“Now I’m good enough that one bad race is third, maybe fourth and that’s how you win a season title. It shows up every week and you get points.”
He felt the cost of racing five weeks out of six, including the trip to Norway and the Netherlands to start the season.
“It was actually a good race,” Dubreuil said. “I just wasn’t as strong as a month ago.
“I think I’m tired from the whole fall season. I felt really sluggish this week.
“It’s still by far the best fall season of my career.”
CLOCK | Dubreuil captures 500m gold in Calgary:
Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil won the 500 meter race for the second week in a row on the World Cup tour.
Dubreuil claimed last season’s 500m crown by winning just two of 10 races, but never finished lower than fourth in the rest.
He runs the 1,000 meters on Sunday. He is also the season leader at that distance.
Dubreuil was second last week in Calgary and owns an Olympic silver medal in the event.
“That was one of the big goals of the season for me, it was to win the overall and also win the overall in the thousand, which I had never done before,” said Dubreuil. “I’m on my way to do it.
“The thousand, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. I feel tired, but we’ll see what I have left. I bet a lot of the guys feel tired too. I don’t think he’s the only one. “
Japan’s Miho Takagi won the women’s 1,500m for the second time in a row on Saturday for her third victory in four races this season.
Davide Ghiotto of Italy was first in the 10,000 men.
Bloemen breaks his own record
Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen, who sat out the first two World Cups of the season due to the birth of his son, posted the fastest 10k time of the day skating in a Division B race.
The 10k field is limited to 12 skaters. Bloemen was not ranked high enough to compete in Division A.
Bloemen broke his own oval track record with a time of 12 minutes 33.75 seconds, which was faster than Ghiotto’s 12:45.1 and just three seconds off a world record.
“I was so determined to show everything I had for this race,” said Bloemen, the 2018 Olympic champion in the 10k.
The second World Cup in Calgary in as many weeks concludes on Sunday with the men’s and women’s 1,000 meters and mass starts.
Watch live coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and CBC Gem.
World Cup racing takes a break after Sunday and concludes in February with two stops in Poland. The world championships follow from March 2-5 in Heerenveen, the Netherlands.
