Canada's Ivanie Blondin has high expectations for herself at the world all-round championships this weekend in Calgary.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Ivanie Blondin has had a breakthrough season so far on the international speed skating scene.
The 24-year-old from Ottawa is now looking forward to having a strong showing at the ISU world all-round championships this Saturday and Sunday at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.
"The home crowd is definitely an advantage when you feel that energy and people screaming," Blondin said. "A lot of people say, 'Don't you feel more pressure?' To me it's not really necessarily more pressure. To me, it's nice to be at home and I can be eating the same food that I'm used to and be in my own bed and kind of have my family there to support me too."
Last month in Heerenveen, Netherlands, Blondin won silver in the women's mass-start race at the speed skating world single distance championships. She has also won five World Cup medals in the mass start – two gold, two silver and a bronze – to go with another bronze in the 5,000-metre-event earlier in the season.
After not skating up to her potential at last year's world all-round championships in Heerenveen, Blondin has higher expectations for herself this year.
"I'm looking forward to see what I'll be able to do this weekend," said Blondin.
To accomplish her goal of finishing in the top eight, Blondin will have to skate well in both the 500-metre and 3,000-metre on Saturday and the 1,500-metre on Sunday to be among the eight qualifiers for the 5,000-metre later that same afternoon.
"I'm better in the long distances, but I've also proven this year that I can be pretty fast in the shorter distances as well," she said. "If I happen to get into the 5K then I could potentially better my ranking in that sense because I'm better at the 5K and the 3K than I am at the sprint distances."
The championships will feature 24 female and 24 male skaters from 18 countries. Koen Verweij and Irene Wust of the Netherlands are the defending men's and women's champions, respectively. Fellow Dutch skater Sven Kramer will be vying for his seventh world all-round men's title, which would put him one behind Germany's Gunda Niemann.
The men will start out with the 500-metre and 5,000-metre on Saturday followed by the 1,500-metre on Sunday to determine the top eight competitors who will advance to the 10,000-metre, which will be the final race of the event.