Canada's Dubreuil, Blondin win speedskating silver medals as World Cup season ends

500-metre race winner Yevgeniy Koshkin of Kazakhstan takes selfie on the pdoium with second-place Laurent Dubreuil of Canada, left, and third-place Jenning De Boo of the Netherlands during World Cup Speedskating in Heerenveen, northern Netherlands, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

HEERENVEEN — Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil and Ivanie Blondin earned silver medals Sunday as the World Cup speedskating season wrapped up.

Dubreuil, from Lévis, Que., finished second in a time of 34.51 seconds in the men’s 500-metres for his third silver medal in the discipline over the last two weeks.

Dubreuil ended up with six medals this World Cup season and now has 42 over his career.

Ottawa’s Blondin took silver in the women’s mass start event. The three-time Olympian narrowly missed out on taking gold, losing a photo finish to Dutch rival Marijke Groenewould.

It was the third mass start medal of the season for Blondin.

Yevgeniy Koshkin of Kazakhstan won gold in the 500 with a time of 34.46, while Jenning De Boo of the Netherlands was third at 34.52.

“I would have loved to win gold, and I was pretty close, only 0.05 seconds off,” Dubreuil said. “I am starting to feel a bit of fatigue from a full season of racing.

“I didn’t open as quickly as I could or as quickly as I did in previous weeks, but I’m still skating very well.”

Blondin appeared destined for her first mass start victory of the season until Groenewould caught her down the final stretch.

The Canadian finished in eight minutes 27.52 seconds, two-hundredths of a second behind Groenewould.

Mia Mangenello of the United States took bronze in 8:27.62.

“I picked a tight line coming out of the last corner and kind of fiddled my way through,” Blondin said. “Marijke just had more speed coming from the outer lane. It was a really tight finish, but exciting that way.”

The Canadian team now travels to Hamar, Norway, for the 2025 ISU World Speed Skating Single Distance Championships from March 13-16.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2025.