Ivanie Blondin helped Canada to a team sprint gold medal before picking up an individual bronze Friday as the season-opening ISU Four Continents speedskating championships got underway.
Ottawa’s Blondin combined with Carolina Hiller of Prince George, B.C., and Beatrice Lamarche of Quebec City to win the women’s team sprint in a track record time of one minute 27.87 seconds.
South Korea was 1.39 seconds off the pace for silver, while Kazakhstan was 2.49 seconds back of the winners to take bronze.
Later, the 34-year-old Blondin took bronze in the women’s 1,500 metres with a time of 1:57.99.
Japan’s Miho Takagi (1:54.86) and China’s Mei Han (1:56.53) took gold and silver, respectively.
Canada reached the podium for a third time as Anders Johnson of Burnaby, B.C., Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., and Yankun Zhao of Calgary, Alta., finished third in the men’s team sprint behind China and the United States.
