CALGARY - Ivanie Blondin was built for speedskatings mass start race that could make its Winter Olympic debut in 2018.The 24-year-old from Ottawa has won four World Cup medals in as many races this season, including two gold. Blondin leads the overall standings for the womens World Cup mass start.Her short-track speedskating background gives her the tools to jostle for position among the 23 other skaters all leaving the start line at the same time.Blondin also has the endurance to race the 16 laps — over six kilometres — and finish strong. She won a World Cup bronze in the 5,000 metres Nov. 23 in Seoul, South Korea. Blondin finished fourth in a 3,000 on Dec. 13 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.Mens and womens mass start races will be on the menu at the world single distance championships Feb. 12-15 in Heerenveen.The International Skating Union has asked the International Olympic Committee to include a mens and womens mass start in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The IOCs executive board will meet in April to approve the 2018 program.If mass start races get the green light for 2018, thats good news for Blondin.Its for sure my main event, she said Tuesday at the Olympic Oval.Its great. Its a little nerve-wracking too because its like oh my god, its real and I actually have a shot, a real good shot at getting an Olympic medal for my country at the next Olympics. Its a little scary and a little frightening, but Im excited more than anything too.Blondin started short-track speedskating at age 14, but switched to long-track at 20. Skaters race against each other in pairs in long-track, but they generally dont come in contact with each other. Theyre more concerned with the clock and their coaches barking out split times.The mass start in long-track incorporates some of the elbows-up contact of short-track races, as well as the cat-and-mouse strategy of passing competitors at the right time in the race.My comfort level skating in a group of girls or a pack is a lot higher than most of the girls who are out there, Blondin said.Coming from short-track, especially in Canada, it was such a competitive sport when I was younger that I know how to get around people, I know how to make room for myself, I know how to push people and stay on my feet and I know how to get pushed too.The inner warm-up lane is part of the race track for the mass start. According to the rules, if a crash occurs on the first lap involving six or more skaters, the race will be stopped and re-started immediately.Points are awarded for three intermediate sprints during the race and the final sprint to the finish, but the points are weighted so first, second and third over the finish line earn the medals.As a long-distance specialist, Blondin doesnt chase intermediate sprint points. She paces herself to be in good position and have enough in the tank for the final dash.Im always going for the podium, she said. Thats pretty much my tactic.Blondin has returned to Calgary and her training base at the Oval for the holidays and also for the Canadian single distance championships starting Friday. She intends to race the womens mass start Monday at the Oval.The next World Cup races are Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in Hamar, Norway. Blondins strategy in World Cup mass start races are to draft behind the top skaters and make her move towards the end of the race.Its all about position, being smart and saving your energy for the last little bit, Blondin said.In an effort to become a stronger all-around skater and contend in the 1,000 and 1,500 metres, Blondin says shes worked on sprint speed this winter. That in turn has given her the power boost to pass other skaters during the mass start.I think training more for all-around and having the variety of being a little bit sprintier with the long distance is a great combination for that specific of an event, Blondin said.She has no shortage of challengers in the mass start. Irene Schouten of the Netherlands edged Blondin for gold Dec. 7 in Berlin, Germany.Many of the South Korean women also have a short-track background. Theyll pull out all the stops to win a medal on home ice in 2018. Nolan Ryan Jersey . 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The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick.CALGARY - Elisabeth Vathje may have hit a triple in her first at-bat in skeletons big leagues, but the slider is hardly an overnight success.Skeleton, and its sporting relative bobsled, commonly draw athletes later in their lives from track and field and other explosive sports.Vathje (pronounced VAT-chee) is unique in that she began sliding head first on a sled at 14.Now 20, the Calgarian won a silver medal in her World Cup debut last week in Lake Placid, N.Y. Her second stop on the World Cup circuit in on her home track Friday in Calgary.You go to your first World Cup, you expect the jitters, Vathje says. To finish second was incredible. I was overwhelmed.The one thing I do say is my goal is top six, but Im going in with no expectations. If I go in saying I want to win your brain is not focused on the correct thing.Youre missing the process and focusing on the outcome. Its important for me to just go out and slide. My body knows what it should do.The World Cup in Calgary opens with mens and womens skeleton and two-man bobsled Friday. Olympic gold medallist Kaillie Humphries will pilot her two-woman sled and make her World Cup debut as a four-man pilot Saturday.Vathje won a silver medal at the world junior skeleton championship Jan. 25 in Winterberg, Germany. Shes been racing the developmental North American Cup and Europa Cup circuits for several years. The week prior to her World Cup debut, she won a Europa Cup in Winterberg, which is the site of the 2015 world championships.Her ascension comes at a difficult time financially for Canadas skeleton team. The team has undergone a complete changing of the guard with no returning Olympians this winter.Own The Podium funding dropped to just $20,000 for 2014-15 from an average of $876,250 in the years between the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.So Vathje, with help from sponsors and the bank of parents Rita and Jeff, is paying the majority of the freight. She says Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton will cover travel, accommodation and meals for races, but her coaching, equipment and support-team costs are borne by her.British skeletton sled maker Richard Bromley, the brother of racer Kristan Bromley, and former Canadian team slider Charles Wlodarczak are coaching Vathje.ddddddddddddBromley produced her new $10,000 sled that took her to another level in racing the moment she dove onto it in October.It was love at first slide, Vathje said. I went on that sled and it was a second faster than my old sled. Its incredible to have it tuned so perfectly to me that I can just let the sled do the work.An employee benefits company and a trucking company sponsor her. Her father works for an energy company. Vathje says her mother bakes and sells cookies to defray the cost of her racing.I will be going to different competitions on the back of cookies, Vathje says. Its really sponsors that are coming behind me. My mom and dad cover the rest basically. Working in the summer is hard because its not conducive to good training.We call it Team Vathje. It takes a village, really. It is expensive.She took up the sport because her father sat near the luge team on a plane from Vancouver when she was 13.They got talking and at the time I was too old for luge and too young for bobsled, but perfect for skeleton, she explained. We got involved. I did a talent I.D. camp.It was kind of crazy, but my parents signed off on it.The World Cup circuit moves to Europe in January. Vathje knows the North American tracks inside and out having slid on them often in the minors. But shes confident in her abilities in Germany, Austria and France because shes raced Europa Cups on those tracks too.OTP allocates Sport Canada funding based on whether a sport federation has athletes with medal potential. Vathje knows winning World Cup medals could help restore funding to the team.Thats not really something I focus on, but I want to do my best to help better my team, she said. Were in an individual sport, but were still a team. I want to see my teammates do well. The last thing I want to see if because we have a lack of funding that we do poorly.If I do well, fantastic. It helps the team. It betters the team and better us all. ' ' '