Canada's Will Dutton, Ivanie Blondin race to World Cup speed skating medals again

Canada's Will Dutton and Ivanie Blondin continued their fast start to the World Cup long track speed skating season with bronze medals in races Friday in Salt Lake City.

You can watch more speed skating competition on Saturday as part of RBC Sports Day in Canada (2-6 p.m. ET), and more specifically, Road to the Olympic Games, which begins at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Dutton, who retired from racing in June, but came back when Speed Skating Canada hired Kevin Crockett as the sprint coach, finished third behind the Russian rocket, Pavel Kulizhnikov who became the first skater to go under 34 seconds in the 500, with a time of 33.98. Kulizhnikov had previously bettered Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon's 2007 world record last weekend in Calgary, skating 34.00.

"I understood the ice was faster here, so I wanted to skate faster," Kulizhnikov said through an interpreter.

Kulizhnikov grinned ear-to-ear during a post-race ceremony to honour the moment. The Utah Olympic Oval has an enormous plaque at the entrance that lists the world records and those set at the Oval. Kulizhnikov stood on a lift and removed his name with the old record and replaced it with the new mark.

Mitchell Whitmore of the United States was second in 34.19, followed by Dutton in 34.35. Canada's Alex Boisvert-Lacroix was seventh, with a time of 34.44.

Dutton, from Humboldt, Sask. had a bronze medal last Friday in Calgary, his first World Cup medal, and followed up with a silver in the second 500 metre race at the Calgary Olympic Oval.  

"I had trouble focusing today because there are a lot of distractions when you're on the road", explained Dutton. "I was able to overcome the distractions, however, and prove to myself that I'm not just a home ice skater. That was a pretty good feeling. Also, hitting back to back podiums feels great, but it's really just about keeping consistency in my preparation. Every race is a new challenge and I'm really happy that I'm able to face these challenges and overcome them each time. Every medal has a different story and I think that's really neat."

Dutton saw Kulizhnikov improve on the 500m world record from up close, as they skated in the same pairing.

"To beat Kulizhnikov, it's going to take a world record race.  I was ahead of him at the middle of the last corner but he just found another gear for the last 150 metres," said Dutton. "I don't feel like I'm that far off though. I think if I can execute exactly as planned, I have a chance. Right now in this competitive field, it's really coming down to who makes the least mistakes. He's been flawless but I'm building on every race and making gains every day."

Canada's Ivanie Blondin added a bronze to her World Cup collection in the women's 5000, placing third behind Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic and Natalya Voronina of Russia. Blondin lowered her personal best by 10 seconds to 6:55.58.

"I'm happy with my race, my personal best and my podium finish," said Ivanie Blondin. "But it wasn't easy. I was in a very good pairing with Natalya Voronina. She had good rhythm and was fast from start to finish. She was a little bit like the carrot and me, like the rabbit! I really gave it my all and I had nothing left in the tank at the end, but I managed to skate almost all of my laps in 32 seconds, which is great. I didn't know I had it in me!"

Blondin, from Ottawa, picked up two bronze medals at the opening event of the season in Calgary, in the mass start and in the team sprint.

Other winners on the first of three days of competition in Utah were Hong Zhang of China in the women's 500 and Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands in the men's 1500.