Canadian speedskater Ivanie Blondin wins silver in women's mass start

Canada's Ivanie Blondin celebrates her silver medal in the women's mass start speedskating final at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on Saturday, February 19, 2022. (Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Canada's Ivanie Blondin won a silver medal in a thrilling women's mass start speedskating event on Saturday at the Beijing Olympics.

It marks Canada's 25th medal of the Games.

Irene Schouten of the Netherlands overtook the Ottawa-born Blondin after the final turn of te 16-lap race to capture her third gold medal of the Games after winning the 3,000 and 5,000 metres. Schouten finished just six-hundredths of a second ahead of Blondin.

“It was pretty crazy. I think with actually two to go, I got grabbed by the hips and pulled back," Blondin told CBC. "I fought to keep my position to be able to set myself properly for the last lap. I do think I went a tiny bit too early. I think if I was maybe a tiny bit more patient, I could have grabbed on the inside. But it is what it is. At this point, I’m happy to be on the podium and represent my country the way I know I can."

Blondin, 31, raced to the front of the pack on the final lap. She brings home her second medal of the Olympics after joining forces with Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais to take gold in the team pursuit.

Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy was third in the mass start, while Maltais was sixth.

“These races (in) the mass start, it fires me up," Blondin said. "I’m a little bit of a fighter and I’m very competitive. The fact that girls were pushing me and there’s a lot of jostling and pushing and shoving just fires me up and kind of gets me going. I don’t back down from a fight very easily. It was a very fun, tactical race."

Blondin, who fell in the semifinals of the mass start at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics after being considered a medal contender, won silver in the mass start last year at the World Single Distance Championships and gold the previous year.

The 2020 gold was Blondin's second world title in the event. She also has three world silvers in the mass start.

Bart Swings of Belgium won the men's mass start on Saturday. Canada's Jordan Belchos was 13th and Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu was 15th.

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