Speed skater Maltais edges fellow Canadian Blondin for overall women's mass start World Cup title

While Canada's long track speed skaters didn't collect any medals on the final day of the World Cup season finale on Sunday, Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin still gave the Quebec City crowd plenty to cheer about after the women's mass start event brought the competition to a close.

Maltais placed ninth in Sunday's race won by Sandrine Tas of Belgium, with Blondin finishing 12th, but it was enough for them to finish first and second, respectively, in the women's mass start standings for the 2023/24 season.

Maltais of Saguenay, Que., was the model of consistency on her way to her first-ever overall podium in an individual distance, winning bronze in Beijing in November, silver in Stavanger, Norway, in December, and another bronze in Salt Lake City in January, while never finishing outside of the top 10 in any of the other three World Cup stops this season.

Ottawa's Blondin was right on her Canadian counterpart's heels with 257 points to Maltais's 263, and was able to nab gold medals in Salt Lake City and Obihiro, Japan, in November, as well as silver medals in Beijing and Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, in December.

This marks the fifth straight season that Blondin has placed in the top two in the mass start standings, finishing as the overall leader in 2019/20 and last season.

Maltais collected 54 points with her second-place finish in Norway, with Blondin earning zero.

The gold medallist in Stavanger, Irene Schouten of the Netherlands, finished third in the standings with 248 points.

Maltais and Blondin also secured top-10 finishes in the women's 1,500-metre race on Sunday, as well as top-10 finishes in the event's overall standings.

Blondin's eighth-place finish in the race secured a sixth-place result in the standings with 204 points.

Miho Takagi of Japan (300 points), Han Mei of China (271) and Joy Beune of the Netherlands (239) took spots one through three in the standings.

Dubreuil finishes 2nd in men's 500m standings

A day after winning silver in the first men's 500m race of the weekend, Laurent Dubreuil placed fifth in the second race to lock up second-place in the men's 500m standings.

Dubreuil entered the day 19 points back of Wataru Morishige for first, but the Japanese skater placed just one spot behind Dubreuil to only lower the gap to 17 points — 483 to 466.

Yuma Murakami of Japan, who finished fourth on Sunday, was third in the standings with 449 points.

The 31-year-old has now reached the overall podium in the 500m seven times over his career, taking back-to-back first-place honours in the last two seasons.

Next up for Canada will be the world championships in Calgary from Feb. 15-18. Watch live coverage on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

WATCH l Replay of Day 3 coverage from Quebec City:

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Quebec City: Day 3

10 months ago

Duration 3:19:00

Watch the third and final day of the ISU World Cup speed skating event from Quebec City.