(Quebec) Gaétan Boucher already told Laurent Dubreuil how the Soviets sometimes observed him with admiration. In terms of the work they put into training, they could only respect this Canadian rival who managed to defeat them.
Already last year, Dubreuil praised Stolz, comparing him to a modern-day Eric Heiden. The Wisconsin native, like the legendary Heiden, had just become the youngest male winner of a World Cup event. At 18, he was ahead of his closest pursuer, the brightest Canadian hope Connor Howe, almost four years his senior, by 1.76 s over 1500 m, a gulf.
Dubreuil makes no secret of it, he has the same admiration for American skater Jordan Stolz, whom he will face twice in the 500m at the Long Track Speed Skating World Cup in Quebec, from Friday to Sunday.
In Calgary in December 2022, Stolz continued his momentum, reaching the podium three times and setting a world junior and American record to win silver in the 500m, just ahead of Dubreuil.
It was just a prelude to an extraordinary season. At the Junior Worlds, he won six medals, including four gold, and the lead in the general classification. Less than a month later, he won gold in the 500, 1000 and 1500m at the World Distance Championships, becoming the youngest monarch in history and the first man to win three titles at the same World Championships. Mind-blowing.
In the 500 m, he beat Dubreuil, the defending champion, by 36 hundredths, another huge gap.
“A bit like Gaétan, I know the efforts and the preparation that I put into it, and the number of years too,” said Dubreuil after his training on Thursday noon.
PHOTO CHRISTOPHER CREVELING, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Laurent Dubreuil
I know how hard it is to stay at the top. Is he better than me in the 500 meters? It’s debatable, but it’s the only race where I’m competitive, while he… When there’s someone better than me at that point, yes, I have admiration, because I wouldn’t be not capable of doing that. At all, at all, at all. When you know what it takes, it’s doubly impressive.
Laurent Dubreuil
For at least two years, the Lévis athlete has been analyzing Stolz’s technique on video, without being able to reproduce what he observes on his screen. What amazes him the most?
“Its turn,” replied the winner of 35 medals on the circuit. It’s the best corner in the world, the best I’ve seen in my life. For years, I’ve been told that I have one of the best turns in the world. However, when I watch him do it, I have the impression that he is doing a different sport! »
Dubreuil notes how the 19-year-old American manages to plant the blade of his left skate in the ice when he crosses, as if it were leaning on an athletic starting block.
“We, to a certain point, experience the bend when we arrive at 60 km/h. […] Him, the power is directly in the ice. You can get stronger, but in skating, if you’re not able to translate that strength onto the ice, it won’t change anything. It seems like he’s making the most of every bit of energy his body can provide. And his body provides him with more than anyone on the planet! It’s like the perfect combination of physicality and technique. »
“Like rubber”
A few minutes earlier, Gregor Jelonek, Dubreuil’s coach, offered similar insight into the Stolz phenomenon, describing with deference the fluidity of his skating, which gives him “perfect propulsion.”
“It looks like it’s made of rubber,” explained the coach by mimicking the movement. It fits the ice well. There is a beautiful marriage between the force of its push and the glide. There aren’t many skaters who can do that. »
This ability allows him to “never break” over a longer distance, like the 1500 m, marvels Jelonek, who also does not hesitate to describe Stolz as the “Eric Heiden of our time”, in reference to the five-time gold medalist at the Lake Placid Olympic Games in 1980.
In Salt Lake City last week, Jordan Stolz hung four individual gold medals around his neck (500 m, 2 x 1000 m, 1500 m) in addition to dropping the world record for the 1000 m by more than three tenths . To cap off his weekend, he lined up for 5000 m (15e), a way to prepare for the Allround World Championships, one of his main objectives this season. He is even thinking of participating in the World Sprint Championships, which take place within four days!
“Like all great athletes, he doesn’t put limits on himself,” observed Jelonek. Plus, he’s young. He is not protecting himself by saying: “I will not run this race to protect myself.” He goes there and asks himself questions afterwards. He looks at the time and sees what it looks like. It’s a bit the same thing for Laurent. These are guys who always give their all in every race. »
In Utah, Dubreuil likened competing with Stolz to “playing golf with Tiger Woods,” an experience he can tell his children in his old age. The parallel made the main person concerned blush.
“I became stronger”
On Thursday, as luck would have it, Stolz showed up in the mixed zone while his Canadian rival was being asked questions about him by The Press. Dubreuil switched to English to call his opponent an “asshole”, a joke that the American knew was feigning, of course.
Accompanied by his coach Bob Corby, 73 and a former mentor to Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair, Stolz rattled off his answers as quickly as he skated.
Impressed by the Gaétan-Boucher ring, which he found “magnificent” and “prettier” than those he had already visited, he delighted in the idea of competing against Dubreuil over two 500 m, in addition to line up at 1000 m and 1500 m.
“It will be a good competition,” predicted the blond guy, just over six feet tall. The whole crowd will cheer him on; it will be me against Quebec! »
Stolz will nevertheless be able to count on the presence of his parents, including his father Dirk, a police officer who set up an ice rink on a pond in their backyard in Kewaskun, a village 45 minutes north of Milwaukee. Jordan learned to skate there at the age of 5, after following the competitions at the Vancouver Games in 2010. His compatriot Apolo Anton Ohno, a fantastic triple medalist in short track, had a particular impact on him.
Stolz practiced short track until his early teens, before devoting himself entirely to long track. A few years later, he qualified for the Beijing Games at the age of 17.
“I always felt the ice well, but I got stronger,” he noted. I started getting stronger working with Bob four years ago. I did a lot more weight training and cycling. I got really strong and kept my feeling for the ice. »
It is not Laurent Dubreuil who will contradict him.
Sharing cheese with the Dutch
Thanks to his success last year, Stolz signed a three-year contract with a Dutch professional team, Team Albert Heijn Zaanlander, the name of a gouda cheese exclusive to a major grocery chain. Commercial above all, this agreement also gives him access to camps with his Dutch teammates, such as this cycling course he completed in the Italian Alps last fall. Does he even like cheese? “Cheese is good,” he replied with the casualness of a teenager, making his friend burst out laughing. coach Bob.
Group B for Dubreuil
Slowed by tendinitis in one knee before the start of the season, Dubreuil was not able to regain his competitiveness in the 1000m. The Olympic silver medalist over the distance therefore moved between groups A and B during the season. In Quebec, he will start in group B on Friday. His participation in this event is solely motivated by the national qualification process for the World Single Distance Championships in Calgary, February 15-18. And yet, he gives it little importance. “If I don’t place, ultimately, I don’t care, I have no chance of medaling,” said Dubreuil. The 1000 m, however, is of capital importance for the World Sprint Championships in Inzell, in March, where he calculates to be among the five best in the cumulative 500/1000 m at the moment.