GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of -- Finishing sixth in the women's 3,000-metre race at the Pyeongchang Winter Games ate at Canadian long-track speedskater Ivanie Blondin for a solid 36 hours.
While still not good enough for a spot on the Olympic podium, her result in the 5,000 is a lot easier to swallow.
Blondin wound up fifth in Friday's five-kilometre slog around the Gangneung Oval with a time of six minutes 59.38 seconds.
"After the (3,000) it was another stage of disappointment," said the 27-year-old from Ottawa. "Right now I'm disappointed I didn't get a medal, but I'm still proud of myself for how I felt and how I executed that race.
"I did the best I could today and I got beat."
Unsure if she would be able to crack seven minutes because of physical fatigue, an exhausted Blondin even clipped her own skate to cause a momentary stumble down the home stretch.
"Once I'm crossing the line it's almost as if my body's numb," she explained. "There's so much lactic acid ... you can't even think straight. I don't even know what I was thinking at the end of that race.
"It's an odd feeling, for sure. It almost feels like you're about to be put under for surgery."
Esmee Visser won gold in 6:50.23, giving the Netherlands six gold medals in seven speedskating races.
"I never imagined this," said the 22-year-old Visser. "I thought a podium would be good, I never thought about (gold).
"It feels amazing. I'm not realizing it yet. I think it has to take a few more days, but it's amazing for now."
World-record holder Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took silver in 6:51.85, while Russian skater Natalia Voronina captured bronze in 6:53.98. Ottawa's Isabelle Weidemann was right behind Blondin in sixth with a time of 6:59.88.
Expected to win a medal in last Saturday's 3,000 after grabbing gold at a World Cup just before the Games, Blondin was left bewildered when she finished a disappointing sixth in a race that saw the Netherlands sweep the podium, seemingly out of nowhere.
She blamed her performance partly on nerves, something that didn't impact Friday's result.
"That was a positive," Blondin said. "Going forward I think I can use that to my advantage.
"It's disappointing that I'm not on the podium, for sure. I'm definitely a competitor and probably one of the most competitive people, but it happens. I'm growing as a person, I'm growing as a skater."
Blondin added that she tried to use teammate Ted-Jan Bloemen's gold-medal victory in the men's 10,000 on Thursday -- a result that followed the Dutch-born Calgary resident's silver in the 5,000 -- as motivation.
"I actually kept picturing Ted in front of me, kind of like I was the bunny and he was my carrot," she said. "He's such a great inspiration. He's a great mentor and one my best friends on the team.
"It's such a great feeling, and also such an honour, to be so close to an Olympic gold medallist."
Third at last year's world single distance championships in the 5,000 in Gangneung, Blondin also took second at a World Cup earlier this season. She was 14th in the 5,000 at her first Games four years ago in Sochi, Russia.
Blondin will now turn her focus to Wednesday's team pursuit before concluding her program in South Korea with her favourite race, the mass start, on Feb. 24.
Blondin's other two world single distance championships medals -- including gold in 2016 -- have come in the mass start, which will be making its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang.
The 22-year-old Weidemann will close out her first Olympics in the team pursuit.
"Isabelle had another great performance today again," Blondin said. "I'm super proud of her. She's come a really long way. It's absolutely phenomenal how she's handled it and how she's been so focused.
"Going into the team pursuit, I think we have a super strong team."
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