Long track speed skater Laurent Dubreuil won the silver medal in the 1000 meter event at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.
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The Quebecer thus erased his disappointment experienced in the 500m a few days earlier, in which he had finished at the foot of the podium. This time, his time of 1:08.32 allowed him to finish behind the winner, the Dutchman Thomas Krol (1:07.92), and ahead of the Norwegian Havard Lorentzen (1:08.48).
“My strength is the start, it’s the first lap. This season in the World Cup, we did four 1000m and each time, I was in the lead with one lap to go. And the four times, I had run out of juice to find myself off the podium. But today, my start was better than usual. I was able to keep my technique enough to stay on the podium,” he said in an interview with Radio-Canada.
“My last lap wasn’t pretty compared to Thomas and Havard, but that’s not my strength. They are medium distance guys, while I am a sprinter. I was able to go fast enough to keep myself some leeway.”
Another representative of the Belle Province was in action, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu. With a time of 1:10.075, he took 24th place. Canadian Connor Howe (1:08.97) finished in 12and rank.