(Calgary) Laurent Dubreuil’s coach may not be in Calgary, but two interested spectators were keeping things in check Thursday morning at the Olympic Oval.
Phone in hand, Gaétan Boucher and Benoît Lamarche spontaneously filmed and timed Laurent Dubreuil’s flying lap during training for the Canadian long track speed skating team.
Dubreuil fell on them as they left the ice rink. “I sent the video to Gregor,” said Lamarche, who participated in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics with Boucher.
Gregor, this is Gregor Jelonek, the coach de Dubreuil remained in Quebec because he contracted COVID-19 during a World Cup in Norway, three weeks ago.
It was Boucher who took the stopwatch: 24.69 seconds, which is exactly what the coach on the ice had recorded for Dubreuil.
“The stretch was really relaxed,” advised the world champion after asking to watch the cover on Lamarche’s phone.
If he wants to step onto the podium for a seventh straight 500-meter at the World Cup in Calgary on Friday, Dubreuil will need to complete the lap in 24.5 seconds or better. Completely conceivable, indicated the principal concerned, reassured and surprised not to have been bothered by a muscle of the groin which causes him concern from Norway.
“I didn’t feel it at all. Of course it wasn’t a start, but it’s still aggressive acceleration, a tempo like I did. It didn’t hurt at all. ”
The three men then chatted about pressure. Not the pressure to perform, but the barometric pressure, which looks promising for the weekend. It will be particularly low on Saturday… the only day when Dubreuil will not perform.
Still, it won’t be very high on Friday either, which should favor fast times in the 500m. Enough to hope to go under 34 seconds, a barrier with which Dubreuil flirted twice last week in Salt Lake City, on an ice renowned as the fastest in the world.
Before the start of the season, the athlete from Lévis made a goal of joining the “33” club, made up of four members. He will have another chance with a second 500m on Sunday. ” It’s doable. I did 34.12 in Calgary in October. I just have to cut 13 hundredths. A guy will surely do 33 this weekend. That’s my goal. But it’s still a secondary goal. ”
His real goal remains to be even more efficient at the Olympics in less than two months. His happy streak this fall “won’t mean much” when he lands the blades on the Pekingese ring.
“I’m hot right now, but a lot can happen by February. No matter what happens at the end of the week, I will then do a reset and stop thinking about those races. ”
Boucher himself had won all of his 1,500 meters on the way to the Sarajevo Olympics. “It gives confidence,” said the four-time Olympic medalist, titled twice in 1984. From what we know of him, Laurent is confident. He is happy, things are going well, he is skating well. He is also very fast in training. These are not fluids. ”
Leader in the 500m standings, Dubreuil will have a great opportunity to play Sunday in the 1000m, where he is fifth. The four Dutchmen ahead of him have returned home to better prepare for their cutthroat holiday Olympic selections.
“Of course it’s an opportunity. My ultimate goal is to beat them, not just to be able to win a medal when they’re not there. Their absence does absolutely nothing for me, but I’m still fifth at the moment. Having said that, there isn’t a race this year where I beat everyone except the Dutch. A Russian beat me when I finished fifth in Poland. ”
Barring a perfect storm, Dubreuil will secure his place among the top eight in the 1000m standings, which has already been achieved in the 500m. He will therefore be prequalified at his two distances for the Beijing Olympics. In other words, he will not have to line up for the Quebec Olympic selections from December 27 to 31.
“Honestly, I’m not sure I would be shopping. It will depend. We’ll discuss it when I get home, but it’s not a necessity at all. In five weekends, I will have done twelve races. It’s a lot. I don’t need to do more at this time of year. ”
After a rest, the 29-year-old plans to jump back into another training cycle until the end of January, with a few training runs to get back on track. He therefore does not want to “interfere” with this phase or risk doing “average races” at the end of the month in Quebec.
“From the start, my goal has been to get to the Games as close as possible. I’m happy with my job so far. You just have to finish the job. ”