Canada's Ivanie Blondin says she doesn't "back down from a fight very easily." And the mass start — especially by long track speed skating standards — is a fight.
And so Blondin won silver in the event on Saturday at the Beijing Olympics. It was the Ottawa native's second time on the podium in China. She was previously part of the trio that earned the gold medal in team pursuit.
Dutch skater Irene Schouten won the mass start just six one-hundredths of a second ahead of Blondin, while Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida rounded out the podium with bronze.