Olympic Speed skating

While some sports at the 2018 Winter Olympics are coming to a conclusion, speedskating still has a wide variety of events left on the schedule.

Both team pursuits and the introduction of the mass start remain on the docket, as well as the final men's individual event that takes place Friday.

The Netherlands has won the most medals in speedskating in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with 11, while Japan sits second with four. Canada, Norway, South Korea and the Czech Republic have picked up multiple medals in speedskating as well.

The United States is one of the notable countries missing from the list, but that should change during the final three days of competition at the Gangneung Oval.

         

Upcoming Speedskating Schedule

Wednesday, February 21

Women's team pursuit semifinals (6 a.m. ET) 

Men's team pursuit semifinals (6:22 a.m. ET) 

Women's team pursuit final (7:58 a.m. ET) 

Men's team pursuit final (8:17 a.m. ET) 

        

Friday, February 23 

Men's 1,000-meters (5 a.m. ET)

       

Saturday, February 24

Women's mass start (6 a.m. ET, final begins at 7:30 a.m. ET)

Men's mass start (6:45 a.m. ET, final begins at 8 a.m. ET)

      

Women's Team Pursuit

The Netherlands, Canada, Japan and United States are the four nations left in contention for the medals in the women's team pursuit.

The Dutch team of Marrit Leenstra, Ireen Wust and Antoinette De Jong set an Olympic record in Monday's quarterfinals with a time of two minutes, 55.61 seconds.

Japan posted the second-best time, but it needs to make up a half-second on the Netherlands to have a chance of taking gold.

Canada bested Germany, who has two golds in the event, in the third heat, while the United States knocked off Poland to earn the fourth spot in the semifinals.

The Americans face a stiff task against the Dutch in their head-to-head race Wednesday, but they could medal if they beat Canada in the bronze-medal race.

Japan and the Netherlands own 11 of the 15 medals from five women's speedskating events in Pyeongchang, and the predicted final should be nothing short of thrilling since Japan holds the world record and the Dutch have the Olympic record in their possession.

      

Men's Team Pursuit

South Korea, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands are still alive in the men's team pursuit.

There's a chance the semifinal between the Dutch and Norwegians could be better than the final, as three 2018 Olympic champions should participate in the race.

South Korea, who won the silver in Sochi, should get past New Zealand with ease as it gives the home crowd at Gangneung Oval plenty to cheer about.

The hosts recorded the best qualifying time of the four semifinalists, but it's worth taking into account the Dutch slowed down at the end with a major advantage over the United States in hand.

All three members of the Dutch squad that broke the Olympic record in Sochi are on the team in 2018. If Sven Kramer, Koen Verweij and Jan Blokhuijsen skate at that high of a level, no one is beating them in the final, not even an incredibly fast South Korean team.

       

Men's 1,000-meters

Norway's Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen has the opportunity to win his second gold in Pyeongchang Friday in the men's 1,000-meters.

Lorentzen enters as the leader in the event in the World Cup standings, per ISU.org, and is coming after a performance in the men's 500-meters in which he broke the Olympic record.

Lorentzen's top competition comes from the Dutch in the form of Kjeld Nuis and Kai Verbij.

Nuis will be back on the track a week after earning his first gold of the Olympics in the men's 1,500-meters, in which he led a 1-2 finish for the Dutch along with Patrick Roest.

Verbij is looking to bounce back from a disappointing ninth-place finish in the 500-meters in which he recorded a time five-tenths of a second slower than Lorentzen.

Finland's Mika Poutala is another skater to watch after he missed out on the medal positions by three-hundredths of a second in the 500-meters.

       

Women's Mass Start 

A year after capturing gold at the World Single Distance Championships in the women's mass start, South Korea's Kim Bo-reum is in search of her first Olympic medal. 

Kim leads a field that includes Heather Bergsma of the United States, who took bronze in Pyeongchang a year ago. 

Canada's Ivanie Blondin and Japan's Nana Takagi are among the many contenders to top the podium in an event that features a start similar to short-track speedskating. 

The final contains 24 skaters competing in a 16-lap final that is expected to feature all sorts of chaos during the mad dash to the finish line over the last few laps. 

      

Men's Mass Start

The United States also has a chance to earn a medal in the men's mass start through 2017 world champion Joey Mantia.

The 32-year-old Florida native is looking to become the first American Olympic champion in speedskating since Shani Davis won the 1,000-meters in Vancouver.

Alexis Contin of France and Canada's Olivier Jean, who finished behind Mantia on the medal podium at last year's World Single Distance Championships, should be in contention for gold in addition to South Korea's Lee Seung-hoon.

One feature of the race worth watching is the intermediate sprint point that takes place halfway through the race. The top skaters at the sprint earn points that could help them in the final standings. 

       

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Olympic.org and ISU.org.

Norway's Havard Lorentzen set a new Olympic record to claim the gold medal in the men's 500-metre speedskating at Pyeongchang 2018 on Monday.

His time of 34.41 seconds was just 0.01 seconds faster than South Korea's Cha Min-kyu, who claimed the silver medal in front of an enthusiastic home crowd at the Gangneung Oval.

China's Gao Tingyu took the bronze with a time of 34.65 seconds. The full result can be found at Pyeongchang2018.com.

Here is the latest medal table:

Tsubasa Hasegawa's benchmark time of 35.08 set in the first of 18 pairs held strong for much of the earlier stages of the competition on Monday.

The Japanese was finally topped in the 10th pair when Dutchman Jan Smeekens crossed the finish line in 34.93, but the two competitors in the 12th pairing, including Tingyu, then both went quicker.

Min-kyu equalled the Olympic record in the 14th pair to put himself in contention for the gold, but he was just pipped to the top of the podium when Lorentzen went fastest.

His opponent in the 16th pairing, Dutchman Ronald Mulder, made a much better start, but Lorentzen then overhauled him in a brilliant finish to top the standings by the finest of margins.

None of the final four competitors troubled the top three, meaning the Norwegian took gold in speedskating's quickest event. 

In the women's team pursuit quarter-finals earlier on Monday, the Dutch team of Marrit Leenstra, Ireen Wust and Antoinette De Jong set a new Olympic record of two minutes, 55.61 seconds to ease through to the semi-finals.

Japan, Canada and the United States completed the last-four lineup, with China, Germany, South Korea and Poland missing out.   

The United States' hunt for its first speedskating medal since 2010 came up short once again Sunday.

The athlete with the best chance to medal in the women's 500 meters came up two positions shy of the medal podium, while the men's team pursuit team failed to impress at the Gangneung Oval.

With five medal events remaining on the schedule in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the United States is running out of opportunities to avoid a second consecutive medal shutout.

      

Sunday's Top Performers

Brittany Bowe

Brittany Bowe has been the most consistent skater on the American team at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Unfortunately, her performances have not been enough to break on to the medal podium.

The 29-year-old took fifth place in the women's 500 meters Sunday in a time of 37.53. U.S. Speedskating's official Twitter account provided us with the results of all three Americans entered into the event:

W500m Results, #PyeongChang2018

5. Brittany Bowe, 37.53
11. Heather Bergsma, 38.13
24. Erin Jackson, 39.20

— US Speedskating (@USSpeedskating) February 18, 2018

Bowe finished 59-hundredths of a second off the gold-medal pace of Japan's Nao Kodaira, who won the competition with a new Olympic record of 36.94 seconds.

Although she hasn't placed in the medal positions, Bowe's improved her finish in each event from four years ago.

After taking 13th in the 500 meters, eighth in the 1,000 meters and 14th in the 1,500 meters in Sochi, Bowe earned a fourth-place finish in the 1,000 meters and took fifth in the other two events.

She has one more opportunity to medal in the women's team pursuit, but that seems unlikely given the overall performance of the American team in Pyeongchang.

      

Men's Team Pursuit

The United States men recorded the worst time of eight nations competing in the men's team pursuit quarterfinals. 

Brian Hansen, Emery Lehman and Joey Mantia did their best to place in the top four and advance to the semifinals, but their time was well off the mark of the semifinal standard. 

The American trio finished the event in a time of 3:42.98, which was more than three seconds behind leader South Korea and more than a full second behind New Zealand in fourth place. 

There's not a whole lot else to say about how poor Sunday's performance was as the glimmer of hope for an Olympic medal fades fast.

Mantia appears to be the last hope for the United States, as he stands a chance to earn the first American speed skating medal since Vancouver in the men's mass start, which is the last event on the event schedule.

      

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Olympic.org.

In one of the showpiece events in the long-track speedskating at the Olympic Games, the final of the men's 500 metres will be the main focus on Monday at the Gangneung Oval in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Having already excelled in the long-track at these Games, the Netherlands athletes are expected to dominate again in this event, with Ronald Mulder, Kai Verbij and Jan Smeekens the favourites to battle for gold. 

In addition, the team pursuit will also get underway in the women's competition, with the quarter-finals scheduled before the men's 500 metres final.

Here's the schedule for Monday's speedskating, all the information needed on where to stream the races and a look at what to expect in what may be one of the most dramatic events at this year's Games.

        

Monday Schedule (ET)

6 a.m. Women's team pursuit 6 laps quarter-finals

6:53 a.m. Men's 500 metre speedskating

       

The action can be streamed via the NBC Sports app (U.S.) and via Eurosport Player (U.K.)

        

Mulder Favourite for 500m Title

After seeing his twin brother Michel win gold at Sochi four years ago, Mulder, who won bronze, will be determined to go a couple better in the sprint event on Monday.

While the 31-year-old would have been pleased with third at the time, with his brother not in Pyeongchang to defend his title, there's a huge chance for the European champion to win on the Olympic stage for the first time.

Ahead of his race, Mulder offered an insight into what his primary thoughts are when he takes to the ice for a big event and commented on what he feels is an open field.

"Pure sport is about being the fastest and that's what speedskating is," he said, per the Olympics website. "... In the sprints I reckon 20 people could win the gold. It's going to be really tight, really exciting. One-hundredth of a second can change a lot."

As we can see here, after a poor first run in Sochi four years ago, Mulder produced a stunning 500 metres to force himself into medal contention:

He'll be hoping for a more consistent set of performances this time around, especially with Smeekens set to provide stiff competition.

The silver medallist from Sochi will be desperate for gold, too, as he thought he'd clinched the title four years ago, only for the official times to put him just one hundredth of a second behind his compatriot. 

The 2017 world single distance champion over 500 metres may also be inspired after he carried his country's flag at the opening ceremony for these Games. It appeared to mean a lot to the 31-year-old:

Wauw! Let the games begin😍🇰🇷🇳🇱#olympics2018 #trots pic.twitter.com/pWbDO2LwE4

— Jan Smeekens (@jansmeekens) February 9, 2018

Another Dutchman with a strong chance is Verbij, who was the winner of the world sprint championships in Calgary last year. Meanwhile, Kjeld Nuis, who has already won gold in Pyeongchang in the 1,500 metres, is clearly in great form, too.

His display caught the attention of Jamaican sprinting icon Usain Bolt in earlier in the tournament:

Yes I did! @TeamNLtweets @Ireenw @kjeldnuis congrats for your gold medals! You are speed legends on ice! I admire you for that. You definitely deserve a bottle of champagne to celebrate!! pic.twitter.com/i9YOS8jZkh

— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) February 13, 2018

The man most likely to prevent the Netherlands from winning all three medals is Norway's Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen, who was second to Verbij in Calgary a year ago. Meanwhile, Canada will have Laurent Dubreuil and Alex Boisvert-Lacroix as outside bets for glory.

The winner is likely to come from the Dutch competitors, though, as they continue to turn in big performances when the clutch moments arrive in the long-track event.

Japan's Nao Kodaira set an Olympic record on her way to gold in the women's long-track 500 metres speeskating on Sunday.

Kodaira's blistering time of 36.94 seconds bettered the previous mark rival Lee Sang-Hwa, who was second here, set in Sochi four years ago. The Czech Republic's Karolina Erbanova did enough to take bronze.

The quarterfinals of the men's pursuit event also took place on Sunday, with South Korea the quickest qualifiers for Wednesday's semis.

Here are the results from the Gangneung Oval and a look back at a tremendous conclusion to the shortest of the long-track events.

          

Women's 500m

1. Nao Kodaira (JPN) - 36.94 (OR)

2. Lee Sang-Hwa (KOR) - 37.33

3. Karolina Erbanova (CZE) - 37.34

           

Men's Team Pursuit Quarterfinals

1. South Korea - 3:39.29

2. Netherlands - 3:40.03

3. Norway - 3:40.09

4. New Zealand - 3:41.18

       

For the speedskating results in full, visit the Pyeongchang website.

   

Kodaira Dominates to Win 500m

The first time of real note in the 500 metres came from Jorien ter Mors, who is in excellent form following her win in the 1,000-metre distance. 

The Dutchwoman blew past Kaja Ziomek in Pair 4, laying down a mark of 37.539 that would remain at the top of the standings for the next seven runs.

Eventually, the United States' Brittany Bowe, who already has a fourth and fifth at these Games, usurped Ter Mors with a 37.530.

Comedian Leslie Jones was in attendance to capture some of her compatriot's brilliant run:

Yaaaassss we in first because of Britnay Bowe!! @NBCOlympics @Olympics pic.twitter.com/7WDGVwGwDA

— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) February 18, 2018

With 10 skaters still to come, Bowe's medal chances remained somewhat unlikely. In the 14th of 16 pairs, the quality took a big step up.

Pre-race favourite Kodaira made her way out to the ice and produced the performance so many expected. The time she lodged was not only enough to take her to the top of the standings; it was also a new Olympic record.

In addition, Erbanova, who raced alongside Kodaira, was pulled along to a fine time of her own, taking second spot.

The biggest rival for gold left in the field was always going to be Lee, the current world-record holder. And much to the delight of the home crowd, at the first split she was narrowly ahead of Kodaira's mark.

However, she couldn't maintain the speed needed in the final stages and was eventually a decent margin behind. Lee settled into second ahead of Erbanova; Jonathan Cheng of the Wall Street Journal broke down the South Korean's effort:

Lee Sang-hwa's splits had her on track to beat Kodaira, but in the end she fell just short, at 37.33—just off her previous Olympic record of 37.28, and Kodaira's new record of 36.94. Kodairo gets the gold, Lee the silver, but the crowd here wants nothing but to chant "이상화!" pic.twitter.com/uaHqeIfKAH

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) February 18, 2018

In the last pair, Vanessa Herzog pushed hard for a bronze medal but came up just short of Erbanova's time to finish fourth.

It confirmed the victory for Kodaira. As NPR's Elise Hu noted, the top two in the event were clearly emotional after such a big battle:

Y'all that was so intense. It's one of those moments in which I feel like I need a cigarette even though I don't smoke

— Elise Hu (@elisewho) February 18, 2018

Earlier on, the semi-finals were set for the men's 500 metres pursuit event, with South Korea delighting the home crowd with an excellent performance.

In their semi they will face New Zealand, while defending champions Netherlands will battle Norway for a spot in the gold-medal showdown.

The United States is hoping to end an eight-year medal drought in speedskating during the second week of competition in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Hope remains that the task can be achieved at the 2018 Winter Olympics, especially after the short-track team ended its dry spell of the same length on Saturday.

Seven medal events are left on the schedule, including the mass start discipline that makes its Olympic debut at the conclusion of the competition.

The best opportunity to claim a medal in South Korea could come in the mass start, which features an opening like the ones we normally see in short-track speedskating.

Speedskating Schedule

Sunday, February 18

Women's 500 meters (6 a.m. ET)

     

Monday, February 19

Men's 500 meters (6 a.m. ET)

      

Wednesday, February 21

Women's team pursuit (6 a.m. ET)

Men's team pursuit (6:22 a.m. ET)

           

Friday, February 23

Men's 1,000 meters (5 a.m. ET)

           

Saturday, February 24

Women's mass start (6 a.m. ET)

Men's mass start (6:45 a.m. ET)

           

Odds (via OddsShark)

Women's 500 meters

Brittany Bowe (+900; bet $100 to win $900)

Heather Bergsma (+1,600)

            

Men's 1,000 meters

Joey Mantia (+2,500)

          

Bowe, Bergsma In Search of Medals in Women's 500 Meters

The last chance to claim individual Olympic glory for Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma comes in the women's 500 meters on Sunday.

Bowe, who finished fourth in the women's 1,000 meters, has had the better Olympics of the two, with Bergsma recording a pair of eighth-place finishes.

Bowe won the 500 meters at the U.S. Championships and finished on the podium in the event before on a major international stage.

In 2016, Bowe took second in the event at the World Single Distance Championships, and she won the overall gold at the 2015 and 2016 World Sprint Championships.

If she uses the result from the 1,000 meters as a momentum builder, Bowe should approach Sunday's event with plenty of confidence.

However, the same can't be said for Bergsma, who has struggled to find a rhythm in Pyeongchang with disappointing finishes in the 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters.

If the American duo fails to win an individual medal, there's always a chance to reach the podium in the women's pursuit, which is expected to be dominated by the Netherlands, but that seems unlikely.

        

Mantia Waiting to Make Impact in Mass Start

Although he's already taken to the ice in South Korea, Joey Mantia is still waiting to compete in his best event, the men's mass start.

Mantia has seven more days to prepare for the new Olympic event and back up the gold he won at the 2017 World Single Distance Championships.

The 32-year-old has a decorated resume by American speedskating standards, as he's qualified for two Olympics and won three World Cup events in a sport controlled by the Dutch.

Look for Mantia to use the men's team pursuit and men's 1,000 meters as warm-up races for what he hopes is an Olympic triumph on the penultimate day of competition in Pyeongchang.

Mantia has an outside chance to reach the podium with his teammates in the pursuit, but it'll be a hard accomplishment to achieve with a team that hasn't fared well in South Korea.

            

Predictions

After a disappointing string of results in the first week of competition, Mantia and Bowe will come through for the Americans.

Bowe will take bronze in the women's 500-meters, while Mantia backs up his world title with a gold in the men's mass start.

Other than that, the Americans are going to be shut out of medals while the Dutch pile on to their collection.

        

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Team USA.

The United States' hunt for its first medal in speedskating since 2010 has been unsuccessful so far, but there's hope that will change during the second week of competition at Gangneung Oval.

The women's medal drought, which extends back to 2002, is in danger of continuing after Heather Bergsma took eighth in her two best events, the 1,000- and 1,500-meters.

Over on the men's side, anticipation is building ahead of the mass start, an event in which Joey Mantia is the favorite to take gold.

While the Americans have struggled in most events, the Netherlands has flexed its muscle with six different athletes winning gold in seven speedskating events in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

            

Speedskating Schedule

Sunday, February 18

Men's team pursuit quarterfinals (6 a.m. ET)

Women's 500-meters (6:56 a.m. ET) 

      

Monday, February 19

Women's team pursuit quarterfinals (6 a.m. ET)

Men's 500-meters (6:53 a.m. ET)

       

Wednesday, February 21

Women's team pursuit semifinals (6 a.m. ET)

Men's team pursuit semifinals (6:22 a.m. ET)

Women's team pursuit finals (7:52 a.m. ET)

Men's team pursuit finals (8:11 a.m. ET)

       

Friday, February 23

Men's 1,000-meters (5 a.m. ET) 

       

Saturday, February 24 

Women's mass start semifinals (6 a.m. ET)

Men's mass start semifinals (6:45 a.m. ET)

Women's mass start final (7:30 a.m. ET)

Men's mass start final (8 a.m. ET)

       

Mantia Is Best Hope for American Success in Pyeongchang

The American focus has shifted toward the final event on the speedskating schedule, as Mantia hopes to claim first place in the mass start.

The newest event in long-track speedskating is comparable to the chaos normally experienced in short-track speedskating.

Mantia, who is the defending world champion in the event, started out his Olympic program with an eighth-place finish in the men's 1,500-meters.

Although the result wasn't what he wanted, Mantia is trying to stay positive with three events left in Pyeongchang, per Team USA's Emily Giambalvo.

"I'm not going to go home today [to] feel sorry for myself and have my head between my legs," Mantia said. "I'm going to pick up the pieces, watch some video and figure out what I need to do to fix it."

Mantia's next event is the team pursuit, which begins on Sunday with quarterfinals leading up to Wednesday's final.

The 28-year-old skates in the men's 1,000-meters in a week's time on February 23 before leading the mass start on February 24.

He is hoping to avoid the fate Bergsma experienced in her marquee events, as she collected a pair of eighth-place finishes.

Bergsma admitted that she isn't feeling the same way she did a year ago, when she took gold at the World Championships in the 1,000- and 1,500-meters, per NBCOlympics.com's Nick Ziccardi.

"I don't feel quite as good as I did last year," Bergsma said. "I think it shows throughout the season."

        

How Many More Medals Can the Netherlands Win?

The Netherlands has put together the best team performance in any sport in Pyeongchang with its collection of six Olympic championships. 

The Dutch were expected to thrive in South Korea after earning 23 medals, eight of which were gold, in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but few thought the dominance would be this widespread. 

Ted-Jan Bloemen, the lone non-Dutch gold-medal winner, has Dutch roots, but he decided to compete for Canada after not receiving the proper support in his eyes from the Dutch program.

Of the five remaining events on the schedule that were contested in Sochi, four of them were won by the Netherlands four years ago.

With the best collection of skaters in the men's and women's events, the Dutch should be the favorite in both team pursuits.

The event in which the Dutch might be the most vulnerable is the women's 500-meters, which was won by Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea in 2014.

At the European Championships in January, the highest-placed Dutch skater in the sprint event was Letitia de Jong in sixth place.

Mantia poses a challenge in the men's mass start, while South Korea's Kim Bo-reum and Japan's Nana Takagi are two of the favorites to take the first-ever gold in the women's mass start.

       

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Olympic.org and ISU.org.

It was a gold-medal performance for Canadian speed skater Ted-Jan Bloemen as he defeated archrival Sven Kramer of the Netherlands to take home the top prize in men's 10,000-meter speedskating Thursday morning (Canadian time) at Pyeongchang.

Bloemen watched the majority of the skaters perform before he got his chance in the penultimate pairing of the event. He was strong from the start and finished the long-distance race with an Olympic-record time of 12 minutes, 39.77 seconds.

Kramer was expected to push for a gold medal, but he struggled and failed to rise to his usual level and finished in sixth place, more than 30 seconds behind Bloemen's time. Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands won the silver medal, while Nicola Tumolero of Italy won the bronze medal.

No Canadian skater had won a medal in the 10,000-meter speedskating event since Frank Stack won a bronze medal in 1932.

Bloemen had previously won a silver medal in the 5,000-meter race in Pyeongchang.

BREAKING: Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen wins gold in 10,000-metres with Olympic-record time at #Pyeongchang2018.https://t.co/e0b6U1wP4s pic.twitter.com/2yQBS20qt2

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 15, 2018

Bloemen was born in the Netherlands but felt he did not get the support he expected from the Dutch program and moved to Calgary four years ago. He gained citizenship because his father was born in Canada and lived there for seven years.

On representing Canada in the Olympics, Bloemen said after the race, per Pete Evans of CBC Sports: "I wouldn't want it any other way. I have such a great team around me, I'm so proud and so grateful to them."

Fellow Canadian representative Jordan Belchos had a solid race, finishing fifth with a time of 12:59.51. While he could not make the medal stand, he managed to beat Kramer by more than 1.5 seconds.

Canadian women were not as successful in speed skating in the 1,000-meter event Wednesday night. Kaylin Irvine finished 23rd in the event with a time of 1:16.90, and that was 3.34 seconds behind gold medalist Jorien ter Mors of the Netherlands, who finished in 1:13.56.

Fellow Canadian Heather McLean finished slightly behind Irvine in 25th with a time of 1:17.25. 

Nao Kodaira and Miho Takagi of Japan won the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

The next speedskating event on the schedule is the women's 5,000-meter race Friday morning at 11 a.m. ET. Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin are the two Canadian athletes on the event's start list.

The 22-year-old Weidemann won Canadian national titles in the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter races. She has finished as high as fifth in the 5,000-meter world championship.

Blondin is one of the favorites in the mass start event, which is making its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang. She won a bronze medal in the 2017 Worlds in the 5,000-meter race.