Canada takes bronze in team pursuit at long-track speedskating World Cup
HEERENVEEN, Netherlands — Canada’s women’s team pursuit squad opened the long-track speedskating World Cup season Friday with a bronze medal while Japan took gold in a world record time.
Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa and Josie Morrison of Kamloops, B.C., took third place in three minutes 0.65 seconds. Japan clocked in at 2:55.77, besting the mark of 2:55.79 that had been set by Canadians Kristina Groves, Christine Nesbitt and Brittany Schussler in December 2009 in Calgary.
The Netherlands took silver in 2:59.06.
“We’ve worked really hard this summer building the bond between us and I think that paid off today,” said Blondin. “There was a lot of trust out there, which is really important in this event.”