Canada's Isabelle Weidemann, left to right, leads teammates Valerie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin as they skate during the women's team pursuit competition at the ISU World Cup speedskating event in Calgary, Alta., Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Canadian speedskater Ivanie Blondin's victory in a World Cup mass start Sunday felt sweeter because it was her last win on home ice.

The 35-year-old, who plans to retire after this season, drew a roar at Calgary's Olympic Oval as she surged into the lead for a mad-dash home stretch of long-track's most chaotic race.

"The crowd was insane. It's most likely my last World Cup here at home, so a little bit emotional, hasn't really hit yet," Blondin said. "Once maybe I have a beer, I'll probably get a little more emotional."

The Olympic mass start silver medallist in 2022 has trained at the Oval for almost half of her life and raced multiple times there in World Cups and world championships.

"My family was here. I had my sponsors out, a bunch of friends," Blondin said. "I really, really wanted to win today."

Blondin has won 88 World Cup medals, including 11 mass start gold, during her career.

The 16-lap mass start, with three intermediate sprints, has the cat-and-mouse passing strategy and body contact of short track.

Both Blondin and Canadian teammate Valérie Maltais, who was fourth Sunday, have a short track background having starting in that sport before donning the long track skates.

Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands was second. American Mia Manganello edged Maltais off the podium by three-hundredths of a second in third.

Ottawa's Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann, and Maltais of La Baie, Que., took silver in women's team pursuit earlier Sunday behind the Netherlands.

The Canadians are the reigning Olympic champions. The trio claimed World Cup silver a second straight week after its first in Salt Lake City.

Maltais' helmet was knocked askew off the start Sunday when Weidemann at the front swung her arm back and connected with Maltais' head.

"I felt my helmet was crooked the whole time," said Maltais.

The Dutch laid down a time of two minutes 52.52 seconds. The Canadians crossed the line in 2:52.68. World-record holder Japan was third in 2:53.08.

"Last weekend, we were really stoked because we didn't know what we were capable of. This weekend, it feels really great to just make it consistent again," Weidemann said.

The host Canadian team collected four medals — one gold, one silver and two bronze — in the second of five World Cups before February's Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy.

Maltais was a bronze medallist in the women's 3,000 and Calgary's Ted-Jan Bloemen took bronze in the men's 5,000 on the first day of racing at the Oval.

Maltais, 35, has earned five medals in two World Cups to start the season, including a silver and a bronze in the 3k and a silver in the first mass start in Salt Lake.

"Last weekend was like a first weekend of competition of the season. You're executing a plan, but you don't have too much expectation," she said. "This weekend, executing a plan with expectation, it's different. I adjusted well to that, and I'm really proud of my weekend."

American star Jordan Stolz claimed Sunday's 500 metres for a third win in Calgary after his victories in the men's 1,000 and 1,500.

The 21-year-old from Wisconsin also landed on the podium in Sunday's men's mass start in third behind winner Andrea Giovannini of Italy and runner-up Jae-Won Chung of South Korea.

Poland's Damian Zurek was second and South Korea's Jun-Ho Kim third behind Stolz in the 500.

The Dutch finished first to fourth in the women's 500 metres with world-record holder Femke Kok claiming her second gold in as many days.

Her teammate Jutta Leerdam was just under three-tenths of a second back in second. Leerdam's boyfriend, American pro boxer Jake Paul, was in attendance at the Oval.

The United States took the men's team pursuit ahead of France in second and the Dutch in third.

The Canadian team heads to Europe in December for World Cups in Heerenveen, the Netherlands and Hamar, Norway.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025