(Beijing) Quebecer Laurent Dubreuil took sixth place in the first 500 meters of the ISU Long Track Speed Skating World Cup in Beijing, China, on Friday.
Dubreuil skated the distance in 35.06 seconds, 34 hundredths of a second slower than Japan’s Wataru Morishige, who won the event in 34.72 seconds.
The Japanese Yuma Murakami (34.82) won the silver medal while the South Korean Junho Kim (35.00) won the bronze medal although the Dutchman Merijn Scheperkamp presented the same time.
Dubreuil currently occupies fourth place in the World Cup rankings, after finishing seventh and sixth in Japan last week.
In the B final over this distance, Canadian Joshua Telizyn finished 12e (35.81).
The Canadian trio composed of Valérie Maltais, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann experienced difficulties during the women’s 1500 meters.
Blondin offered the best result to his country with an 11e position, after stopping the clock at 1:58.14. Maltais followed at 12e rank (1: 58.18) while Weidemann took 19e and last echelon of skaters to have set off on the track (2: 01.29).
In the B final of this discipline, Maddison Pearman (2: 01.01) was the fastest Canadian in seventh place, ahead of Quebecer Béatrice Lamarche (2: 02.95), 13e.
In the men’s 1500 meters, David La Rue crossed the finish line in 1:46.29, which gave him eighth place. Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu (1: 47.27) finished 14the step.
The Dutchman Kjeld Nuis (1: 44.80) and his compatriot Patrick Roest (1: 45.36) climbed to the two highest steps of the podium. China’s Zhongyan Ning (1:45.51) completed the top 3.
Canada was able to celebrate in the 1500 meter B final, as Connor Howe triumphed in 1:46.36. His compatriot Vincent Dehaître finished the event in ninth position (1: 48.09).
Finally, in the women’s 500 meters, Canadian Carolina Hiller finished ninth (38.40). In the B final, the representatives of the maple leaf Brooklyn Mcdougall and Pearman respectively took the 12e and 19e echelons.