Blondin 'a tiny bit disappointed' after Day 1 at world allround championships
Canadian speed skater sits 5th in overall standings
Canada's Ivanie Blondin is fifth in the women's provisional overall standings after the first day of competition at the ISU world allround championships on Saturday in Hamar, Norway.
The Ottawa native started her day with an eighth-place finish in the women's 500-metre in 39.61 seconds. She then skated to ninth place in the 3,000m in 4:08.29.
"Overall, I'm a tiny bit disappointed with both of my races because I thought I would be faster, in the 500-metres especially, where the execution level was there but unfortunately, the time wasn't as fast as I would have wanted it to be," Blondin said.
"In the 3000 [metres], I didn't realize how much that 500 took out of my legs. It was kind of a fight from start to finish, but I fought through it and did the best that I could."
Donnelly struggles in debut
On the men's side, Ben Donnelly of Oshawa, Ont., came up with two 13th-place finishes, both in the 500m (39.61) and the 5,000m (6:31.71) to end up 16th overall after the first two events of the competition.
"My 500 didn't go as well as I was hoping for," said Donnelly, who is taking part in his first world allround championships. "I had a really good opener, but a small mishap at the first corner made for a slower first lap than what I wanted it to be."
Blondin and Donnelly will skate in the 1,500m events on Sunday. The top eight skaters in the overall standings will then compete in the women's 5,000m or men's 10,000m in order to collect more points. The allround championship title goes to the skaters who finish first in final overall standings.