Ivanie Blondin, Laurent Dubreuil add to speed skating medal haul in Poland
Canadians collect silver, bronze in mass start, 500 metres, respectively
Ivanie Blondin and Laurent Dubreuil added to their speed skating medal haul in Poland on Sunday.
Blondin earned silver in women's mass start with a time of nine minutes 3.410 seconds, trailing only Irene Schouten of the Netherlands while Nana Takagi of Japan was third.
"It's always really good to fight for the 1-2 positions with Irene Schouten; we've been doing it as long as I can remember," said Blondin. "My strategy today was to go out, feel the field and not let anyone create gaps.
"I worked a little bit too hard and that took away some energy for my sprint, but I'm still very happy with a silver medal."
WATCH | Ivanie Blondin captures silver in mass start:
It represented the 12th silver on the World Cup circuit for the 29-year-old, who also boasts six gold and 10 bronze.
The Ottawa native earned bronze in team pursuit with Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais on Saturday.
WATCH | Canada claims team sprint bronze in Poland:
"My goal at the World Cups is always to be on the podium in my individual distances," Dubreuil said. "I was in the B group last week so I am very happy to have won a medal in my first race in A group.
"We trained a bit different this [past] summer so to see that bearing fruit and delivering results is very positive."
A week ago, Dubreuil, David La Rue and Gilmore Junio placed third at the World Cup stop in Minsk, Belarus.
WATCH | Laurent Dubreuil reaches podium in men's 500m:
At the same event, Dubreuil cracked the top 10 in the 1,000, placing ninth.
It was a Japanese 1-2 finish in Sunday's 500, with Tatsuya Shinhama (34.732) defeating Yuma Murakami (34.734).
Junio, who hails from Calgary, was 16th in the 20-man field in 35.462 while Alex Boisvert-Lacroix won the B Division 500 final in 35.207.
Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen, Jordan Belchos, Graeme Fish and Tyson Langelaar placed fourth in men's mass start in three minutes 49.909 seconds. The Netherlands was first in 3:45.689.
Béatrice Lamarche of Quebec City was 13th in the B Division 1,500.