Laurent Dubreuil confirmed his brilliant start to the season on Saturday. He won gold in the 500m at the Long Track Speed Skating World Cup in Stavanger, Norway. Her compatriot Ted-Jan Bloemen captured bronze in the 10,000m, while the Canadian women’s team won silver in the sprint.
Dubreuil’s race was clear from the start. He started alongside the Russian Artem Arefyev: the two had the best times of the day. Dubreuil recorded a time of 34.573 seconds, against 34.608 s for Arefyev. The Polish Marek Kania, with a time of 34.653 s to complete the podium.
Dubreuil, a native of Lévis, won two medals at this distance last weekend at the World Cup in Tomaszow Mazowicki, Poland. So that’s three medals in three races for the Quebecer.
The Canadian Gilmore Junio took the 19e row out of 20, with a time of 35.293 s.
Silver in women’s sprint, Bloemen in bronze
Later in the day, the Canadian women’s team of Ivanie Blondin, Alexa Scott and Maddison Pearman took silver in the women’s sprint, 18 seconds behind the Poles (1 min 28.364 s). The Chinese (+0.21 s) completed the podium. The men’s team, made up of Vincent De Haître, Alex Boisvert-Lacroix and Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, finished sixth in the men’s category.
Ted-Jan Bloemen, Canadian Olympic champion in the 10,000m at PyeongChang in 2018, won bronze in the same distance in Stavanger. His compatriot Graeme Fish finished fourth.
Bloemen clocked 13 min 00.230 s, just over 21 seconds behind the brilliant Swede Nils van der Poel (12 min 38.928 s), who won gold. The latter set a new track record with this time. The Dutchman Jorrit Bergsma (12:56.08) walked away with the money.
Graeme Fish crossed the finish line in 13:07.739, a time that held first until the last waves, he who started first.
On the women’s side, maple leaf rep Heather McLean took the 17e rank of the 500 m long track, recording a time of 36.695 s.