Canada's speed skaters hope for a strong finish at the world championships

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Canada's long-track speed skaters took a step back this season. After winning 23 medals, including five golds, across the six World Cup stops in 2023-24, they ended up with just 16 total and two golds when the tour wrapped up a couple of weeks ago. That left Canada seventh in total medals — down from fourth last season.

Another decline seems almost inevitable at the world single-distances championships, running Thursday through Sunday in Norway. Last year, when this event took place at Calgary's Olympic Oval, Canadians captured a national-record 10 medals — trailing only the perennial powerhouse Netherlands' 13. It'll be tough to match that kind of production far away from home at the end of a so-so season.

Still, Canada has some strong medal contenders this week at the Hamar Olympic Hall, also known as the Vikingskipet (Viking Ship).

Let's start with Ivanie Blondin, a five-time world champion and double Olympic medallist who led all Canadians with eight World Cup podiums this season. Four of those came in individual races — including a surprising victory in the 3,000m opener in Japan back in November that turned out to be Canada's only solo gold of the season. Blondin also earned a silver in the mass start (her specialty) at that same meet before finishing with a bronze and a silver in the mass start at the final two World Cups.

WATCH | Blondin captures mass start bronze in Poland:

The 34-year-old added four relay medals over the course of the season, including a gold and a silver in the women's team sprint. Blondin helped Canada win the world title in the team sprint last year in Calgary, where she also took silver in the mass start and the team pursuit. However, the Olympic-champion pursuit trio of Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais did not reach the podium in either of its two starts this season while Weidemann and Maltais managed just one solo medal apiece.

On the men's side, Canada will be counting on Laurent Dubreuil. The 32-year-old sprinter won the men's 500m (the shortest race in long track) at the 2021 world championships before taking silver each of the last two years while grabbing an Olympic silver in the 1,000m in 2022. He also helped Canada to back-to-back world titles in the men's team sprint in 2023 and last year in Calgary.

Dubreuil was the only Canadian to win a medal in a men's World Cup event this season — individual or team. He collected six of them, recovering from a groin injury that kept him off the podium for two months to reach the podium in five of the last six 500m races (most World Cup meets offer two of them for each gender, compared to just one for the other distances).

Dubreuil finished second in the men's 500m standings for the fifth time in his career. At the worlds, there's a good chance he'll again find himself trailing Jordan Stolz, the 20-year-old American force of nature who won 17 of his 21 individual races across all distances this season to sweep the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m titles.

The full list of Canadians competing:

Men

Ted-Jan Bloemen: 5,000m, 10,000, Laurent Dubreuil: 500m, 1,000m, team sprint Christopher Fiola: 500m Graeme Fish: 5,000m, 10,000m Connor Howe: 1,000m, 1,500m, team sprint Anders Johnson: 500m, team sprint David La Rue: 1,000m, 1,500m, mass start

Women