#SpeedSkating

Miho Takagi (JPN) started the international speed skating season by retaining her 1500m title at the ISU Four Continents Championships on Friday. The World Sprint Champion left her Chinese training partner Han Mei 1.67 seconds behind at the YS Arena in Hachinohe City (JPN). Ivanie Blondin (CAN) took bronze, having already clinched Team Sprint gold alongside Beatrice Lamarche and Carolina Hiller.

Canada executes perfectly in Team Sprint

The women’s Team Sprint was the first event of the 2024-2025 international speed skating season and Ivanie Blondin was eager to take advantage of its early position in the program.

“It was kind of nice being fresh for once, doing the team sprint. Last year, most of the times that I did the team sprint was after another distance,” she said.

With Carolina Hiller leading the way and Beatrice Lamarche in second, Blondin took care of the third lap. Canada finished in 1 minute and 27.87 seconds, leaving Korea (Kim Min Ji, Lee Nahyun, Kim Min Sun) 1.39s behind. Kazakhstan (Kristina Silaeva, Darja Vazhenina, Nadezhda Morozova) took bronze in 1:30.36.

Canada trio Carolina Hiller, Ivanie Blondin and Beatrice Lamarche claimed the first medal of this year's ISU Four Continents Championships as well as a track record © ISU

Although they hardly trained the Team Sprint specifics, Canada seemed to have a flawless race.

“Just executed perfectly,” Blondin commented. 

With Hiller, Lamarche and Blondin, the world champions started in a different line-up than before, but the ambition remains the same. 

Hiller commented: “We don't have a set team. We kind of play it by ear based on the competition prior, how people are skating. So, it isn't a set team, but we have won the past two World Championships, so we're hoping to make that a third this year.

“I always love skating with these girls, and we all skate so well together. It feels great to start [the international season] off with a win.”

Season of change for silver Kim

Korea’s Kim Min Sun was equally happy after grabbing silver. 

“I’m really excited to start a new season, and to start the first race with a team medal makes me really happy,” she said.

“Last year I didn’t do the Team Sprint, so it’s a little difficult to skate with the Korean girls, but we have the Asian Games this season, so we try to practice for the Asian Games.”

Kim Min Sun (KOR), silver medalist in the Team Sprint, is enjoying the challenges of the new season after joining Team Gold © ISU

Like her Canadian counterparts, Kim is looking forward to the new season with a lot of ambition.

“Every year, my goal is the same, the World Championships, gold medal. And of course, at the Asian Games, I want to get more than two gold medals: the 500m, the 1000m and the Team Sprint, although the Team Sprint is going to be really hard, we will try.”

Kim felt as if she was not completely up to speed in Hachinohe City yet.

“My feeling is not really good these days, because this season, I have many changes. I changed teams. I’m training with commercial Team Gold now [instead of the Korean national team], so there’s many new challenges for me.” 

Takagi gets her 1500m groove back

Miho Takagi (JPN), who cruised to 1500m victory after Canada had won the Team Sprint, was very happy to see Kim join the multi-national Team Gold she set up with Dutch coach Johan de Wit in 2023.

“We have more skaters now, Kim Min Sun also joined us, and Taiyo Nonomura (JPN), young skaters. So my team is getting bigger and bigger and the quality [of the skaters] is very high, so I’m happy,” said Takagi.

In Chinese Han Mei, Takagi was up against another Team Gold colleague in the 1500m. The two faced each other in the final pairing, with Takagi skating about four to five tenths of a second faster on every lap. Her time of 1:54.86, however, could not match her own 2021 Hachinohe City track record of 1:54.07. Han took silver with a distant 1:56.53.

Miho Takagi (JPN) cruised to victory in the 1500m but won't defend her 1000m title as she concentrates on next week's ISU World Cup in Nagano © ISU

Despite winning three gold medals at the Japanese national championships three weeks ago, Takagi had not been happy with her 1500m outing. But she certainly rediscovered her groove in that distance at the YS Arena. 

“At the national championships three weeks ago, the 1000m was good, but the 1500m not so. My 1000m was good and my 3000m too, but the 1500m not. Technically, it’s different. Today was not so bad,” she said.

Takagi is restricting herself to the one distance in Hachinohe City, as she travels south to Nagano on Saturday to prepare for the first leg of the ISU World Cup next weekend.

Busy Blondin revels in ‘crazy’ calendar

Blondin, who took 1500m bronze in 1:57.99, will not turn down any chance to race. The relentless Canadian thrives on competition and off the ice she even chose to compete on wheels over the summer. 

“The whole summer I was racing on the bike with a pro-cycling team down in the [United] States,” Blondin explained. 

“I was home maybe two weeks out of the three months during the summer, which was pretty crazy and chaotic, but that's kind of how I like to roll.”

Ivanie Blondin (CAN), won two medals on the opening day of the Four Continents Championships and is eyeing a busy 2024/25 season ahead © ISU

This season, Blondin says she is looking to enter as many races as she can, targeting the 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, Team Sprint, Team Pursuit and Mass Start. 

“We'll just see how it goes. Right now, I'm more versed towards the 1500m, maybe 3000m,” she explained.

“Potentially I'm going to be doing the 1000s, but more for fun. Whenever I can do it, I will do it, and then, Team Sprint is just such a fun race. And honestly, it doesn't take that much energy for me to be able to do it, because it's like, I'm following, and then I get a sling shot. The first half lap of my last lap is, like, kind of a free, and then the last half lap, obviously is hard, but not as hard on the body as doing a 1500m.

“Same thing with the Mass Start, I feel like I'm really good at drafting. So it's just like, depending on how the race goes, for the most part I'm conserving until the last sprint, and it's just like, one acceleration. And then there’s the Team Pursuit… We'll see, see how the season plays out.”

ISU Four Continents Championships Program

The ISU Four Continents tournament starts with the Team Sprint followed by the 1500m for both genders on Friday. The Saturday program features the 500m for both genders, the women’s 3000m and the men’s 5000m, and on Sunday both genders will compete in the Team Pursuit and 1000m before the Championships close off with the Mass Start. 

Schedule & Where to Watch:

• Friday, November 15 - 14:00-16:22: Team Sprint Women Team Sprint Men 1500m Women 1500m Men
• Saturday, November 16 - 14:00 -17:27: 500m Women  500m Men 3000m Women  5000m Men
• Sunday, November 17 - 14:00-17:15: Team Pursuit Women Team Pursuit Men  1000m Women  1000m Men  Mass Start Women Mass Start Men

Where to Watch

For schedules and results of the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships, please visit the event’s webpage.