(Calgary) In quick succession, the Chinese Gao, the Japanese Murakami and the Russian Murashov went under 34 seconds.
By planting his blades in front of the starting line, Laurent Dubreuil knew he needed the race of his life to hope to reach the podium for the seventh time in a row. Leader of the World Cup standings, he had never reached the psychological barrier of 33 seconds.
And there was that Canadian record, Jeremy Wotherspoon’s 34.03 seconds, which he’s dreamed of since he was 15 and missed by two hundredths a week earlier in Salt Lake City.
The world champion could have crashed. Rather, he climbed like never before at the first 500 meters of the Long Track Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary on Friday afternoon.
PHOTO JEFF MCINTOSH, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Laurent Dubreuil set a personal best and a track record on the Calgary Olympic Oval.
His time: 33.77 seconds, a huge personal progression of 28 hundredths that took him to another dimension. He raised his arms to the sky. Suddenly, he was the second performer in history over the distance. Only the Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov has already done better than him twice (33.61 s and 33.71 s). He felt that the next four competitors would not be able to dislodge him.
“I knew I could do 33, but I didn’t have a 33.7 in mind, not at all,” admitted Dubreuil, more spirited than ever. It’s proof that when you don’t set limits, when you execute your race plan, when you just think about what to do to go fast, you can surprise yourself. ”
The 29-year-old seemed especially proud to have dethroned Wotherspoon, in his eyes the best sprinter in history, whose world mark established in 2007 held on for eight years until Kulizhnikov snatched it from him.
“It represents a lot. I grew up with that time as a world record. We watched that race almost every day to try to understand how a skater, technically and physically, could be so good. ”
Wotherspoon, who coaches Norway, was the first to sit next to Dubreuil to congratulate him. He admitted losing this record pinched him a bit, but added that he was happy that it was the Quebecer who took it.
“I took that as a mark of respect, that’s clear. I told him how meaningful it was to beat that time. How much of a dream it was when we were young. ”
As the winner unlaced his skates, a member of the Canadian team handed him a phone. It was his trainer Gregor Jelonek, forced to follow the race from Quebec, because he caught COVID-19 a few weeks ago in Norway.
“He was not completely coherent, he was in the very stiff carpet! Dubreuil related, amused. He was just happy. He was shouting ! He was on a high a bit like me! ”
From the warm-up, the skater from Lévis knew he was having a good day. He got off to a great start: 9.46 over the first 100 meters, a personal high, one hundredth behind Chinese Tingyu Gao, silver medalist in 33.87 s. His turn was also masterful: 24.3 s.
PHOTO JEFF MCINTOSH, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Laurent Dubreuil celebrates after his victory.
“When things are going well like that, speed skating is easy. It’s a really tough, cyclical sport, even if the 500m isn’t the longest distance. Technically, the position is not natural. But when you skate this well, you feel like it’s effortless. […] You don’t feel tired after a race like this, you feel like you could have done another one right after, which you don’t. But you are like on a cloud. This is how you feel. ”
Deeming “quite incredible” to be the second performer in history today, Dubreuil now finds himself dreaming of the world record one day.
“There is one guy left to go looking for the world record. But 16 hundredths is still a lot! I don’t think I’ll do it in two days. This is not the goal either. It would just be preparing me for a disappointment. It’s pretty much the best I can do at the moment. But I’m approaching it and I don’t think I’m at the peak of my career either. […] It’s more and more legitimate to believe that I can beat him one day. ”
After defeating Gao for the very first time on a regular basis, Dubreuil has established himself as one of the big favorites for the Beijing Olympics.
“I don’t project myself like that,” he reiterated. I’m on a good streak, I’m happy and want it to last two more days. After that, there will be a reset at home, a rest, we are going to train again and I see it as an opportunity in fact. ”
“Yes, if the Games were tomorrow it would probably be good for me, but I think I’m able to go after some more. The two months I have left, it’s going to be two months of effort. I will try to align everything to achieve my best, but I can be even better because of these two months.
With a training session for Canada scheduled a little too early at 7:30 a.m., Dubreuil didn’t expect to skate at the Olympic Oval on Saturday. He is reserving himself for Sunday where he will line up for a second 500m and then a 1000m. “I hope I have some magic left in my legs, but I think so!” ”