Ivanie Blondin (born April 2, 1990) is a Canadian speed skater. She primarily skates in the long distances of 3000 m and 5000 m and the mass start event. Blondin won a silver medal in the mass start event at the 2015 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships and a gold medal in the same event at the 2020 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships. She also won the silver medal at the 2020 World Allround Speed Skating Championships. She won a gold medal at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

, in Women's team pursuit.

Career

She began her career competing in

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

while a youth in the

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Concordes skating club. She competed there with fellow Olympian Vincent De Haître, to whom she feels like an older sister. After Blondin failed to qualify in short track for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

she nearly quit sport. Mike Rivet, her coach in Gloucester, convinced her to switch to long track, a decision in which she says, "I was ready to quit skating because I was just so discouraged and disappointed with it. I think (the switch) was the best decision I could have ever made." As a result, Blondin represented Canada in both the long-distance events at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

as well as the team pursuit event. Blondin won her first major competitive medal when she placed second in the mass start event at the 2015 World Single Distance Championships. After the race, she said, "I would have preferred the gold medal, but finishing first at this stage of my career remains a big accomplishment for me, so I'm super pumped with second place. I'm ecstatic with the result, which follows a fantastic season."

2018 Olympics

After results from the 2017–18 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, Blondin pre-qualified for the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

, South Korea. She competed in the 3000 m, 5000 m, mass start, and team relay events. In 2020, she won the mass start event gold medal at the 2020 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships at the

Utah Olympic Oval The Utah Olympic Oval is an indoor speed skating oval located southwest of Salt Lake City, in Kearns, Utah. The Oval was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics and it hosted the Speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics, long-track speed skating ev ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, United States. This was followed up with the silver medal at the

World Allround Speed Skating Championships The World Allround Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best allround speed skater of the world. The event is held over two days, with all skaters entering the first three distances (500 m, ...

in March. She was the first Canadian woman to reach the overall podium at that event since 2012 and only the fifth since the event started in 1936.

2022 Winter Olympics

In January 2022, Blondin was named to her first Olympic team. Blondin would go on to win the gold medal as part of the team pursuit event. Blondin next competed in the mass start event at the Olympics, comfortably winning her semifinal to go on to the final. There, with one lap to go, Blondin made her move while following behind Irene Schouten; over the last turn, Blondin led, but Schouten pushed passed her to edge her out for the gold. Blondin happily settled for the silver medal, her second of these games. After the race, she spoke with CBC Sports telling them of her preferred event in the mass start that "These races, the mass start, it fires me up. I'm a little bit of a fighter, and I'm very competitive, so the fact that girls were pushing me and there was a lot of jostling and pushing and shoving around just fires me up and kinda gets me going."

Personal life

Blondin started skating in her backyard at the age of 2. She initially was in figure skating, but seeing herself as a tomboy, she was more inclined to speed skating and took that up at age seven instead. Blondin said she loved the feeling of speed on her skates, which is why she chose the sport over cross-country skiing. Born in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Blondin attended '' École secondaire catholique Garneau'', a catholic French high school; she completed a Veterinary Assistant program at Robertson College online and has a pet parrot named Gizmo and a St. Bernard-Pyrenees cross named Brooks. Blondin married Hungarian speed skater Konrád Nagy in 2020.

Personal records

She is currently in 6th position in the adelskalender.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blondin, Ivanie 1990 births Canadian female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic speed skaters for Canada Speed skaters from Ottawa Living people World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Canadian sportswomen