Quebec World Cup | The shared passion of Laurent Dubreuil

(Quebec) Laurent Dubreuil did not disappoint anyone at the Speed ​​Skating World Cup in Quebec, winning the silver medal in the 500m on Saturday afternoon.

Only the American Jordan Stolz, a 19-year-old “legend in the making”, prevented the local favorite from climbing to the highest step of the podium, beating him by eight hundredths of a second.

“A victory would have been a perfect scenario, but I did my best and I am proud of my race,” commented a beaming Dubreuil shortly after the podium ceremony.

“Being beaten by a guy who has seven gold medals in the last two weeks is not embarrassing. »

About fifty minutes after a first clear victory in the 1500m, an interlude during which he took the time to sign autographs to ecstatic young skaters, Stolz blew into his hands before flying off to a lightning time of 34.51 s, the fastest on the Gaétan-Boucher ring after Dubreuil’s record established in October 2022.

The tone was set for the duel that the teenager from Wisconsin had described, with a smirk, as “me against Quebec” in an interview with The Press earlier this week.

Dubreuil does his best

Overwhelmed by chills when the announcer said his name and “it roared in the stadium”, two pairs later, Dubreuil was able to regain his calm by planting his blades behind the starting line, alongside the Japanese Wataru Morishige , which he continues at the top of the cumulative rankings for the season.

The almost 2,000 people present at the Intact Assurance Ice Center held their breath before the gun went off, plunging the white enclosure into total silence, broken only by the purring of the compressors.

Dubreuil made an excellent start to the action, eating away at Morishige over the first 100 meters, before producing an exemplary lap, which only Stolz managed to surpass.

When he burst out of the final inside turn, the entire crowd jumped, as if to carry him to the line. Seeing his name appear under that of Stolz on the scoreboard, the Lévis athlete spontaneously raised his arms to express his satisfaction.

“I was happy, I didn’t want it to seem like a disappointment,” he explained. I don’t think the crowd was disappointed either. In the end, I do my best. »

From there, the former world champion crossed his fingers that his time of 34.59 seconds would resist the onslaught of at least one of the last two skaters in the running. After an excellent opening, the South Korean Kim Jun-ho (8^e) and the Japanese Tatsuya Shinhama (19^e) lost too much vigor in the loop to spoil the party imagined by Dubreuil in this first World Cup on Quebec soil since 1992.

“I’ve been dreaming of it for years,” recalled this enthusiast of the history of his sport.

As Dubreuil himself pointed out on the microphone in front of the stands, the presence of Stolz only enhanced the show. Quadruple gold medalist last week in Salt Lake City, with a world record in the 1000m, the “rubber man” lived up to the enthusiasm generated by his early success. Already crowned the day before in the 1000m, he dropped two other gold medals into his fanny pack.

In the 1500 m, Stolz made short work of his opponents. Even a neck-and-neck fight with Ning Zhongyan in the penultimate straight did not disturb him, so much so that he left the Chinese in the mist, ahead of him by 0.78 seconds at the wire .

His time of 1 min 44.09 s earned him a track record, which until then belonged to Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, 10^e in 1 min 46.23 s on Saturday.

“The 1500m went very well in the opening and in the first lap, but maybe I relaxed too much in the second lap,” Stolz assessed. I don’t think it would have made much of an impact if I had continued to attack. I felt very good for the 500m, but I pretty much died there! »

Nothing stops Jordan Stolz

“He’s a phenomenal athlete,” marveled Stolz coach Bob Corby. It’s fantastic that he can skate like this over all these distances. »

THE coach doesn’t expect his protégé to be able to go much faster in the second 500m. “If he’s faster, it might be by a tenth. It could be the same, or a tenth more. I just want to see him have a good race. I don’t care if he places fourth. »

Fourth in Salt Lake City, Connor Howe placed third, a first podium for the talented 23-year-old Albertan, fifth at the Beijing Olympic Games. “I perhaps modulated my effort better and skated better technically,” assessed the man who finished 15^e the day before over 1000 m. “I took my time, which allowed me to finish stronger. »

Two weeks before the World Championships in Calgary, Howe can only see Stolz’s domination: “It’s pretty hard to compete against the athlete of a generation…”

The first skater to achieve the 500-1000-1500 triple at the last World Championships, Jordan Stolz has just repeated the feat twice in two weeks at the World Cup, something that has never been seen before.

“Eric Heiden was doing it in the late 1970s, but it had never happened in the modern era,” Dubreuil said. It probably would have been said that it was impossible before he did it. And he does it with disconcerting ease! It’s only at the 500 that we challenge him, that I challenge him a little. »

Dubreuil will have another opportunity to challenge him in the second 500m this Sunday. “I have another race to beat him at the Worlds. But I’m not embarrassed to finish second behind him. »

For Gélinas-Beaulieu, himself a fan of versatility on two blades, Stolz’s exploits are a source of inspiration.

“It’s unimaginable, what he’s doing,” he commented after his 13^e place for the mass start, at the end of the session. “I have the impression that in 10 years, we will start to analyze and understand what he did well. It inspires me a lot to see someone perform like that in all distances. This is always what I wanted to do. »

Isn’t it rather discouraging to see a 19-year-old white guy disrupt everything in his path?

“Pantoute,” assured Gélinas-Beaulieu. It shows me that what we thought was impossible is now possible. It motivates us to continue and go beyond boundaries. That’s what sport is. »

One last 500m this Sunday

With a medal in his pocket, the fifth in a row over his favorite distance, Dubreuil already says he is “mission accomplished” for the World Cup in Quebec. “I think it will be a little more fun-oriented tomorrow [ce dimanche] “, he assessed.

His second place, combined with Morishige’s eighth, allowed him to take 18 points off the Japanese’s lead at the top of the cumulative 500m standings. Now trailing by 19 points, the Lévis athlete will still need the planets to align to take the title for the third season in a row during the final 500m this Sunday.

If he finishes first, Morishige cannot do better than fifth, otherwise the carrots will be cooked. With a second place, the Japanese must not go beyond eighth position, and so on.

“It would be incredible to win three years in a row, but even if I finish second, I will be very proud too. Just because Morishige finished seventh today doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve first place. He still has four victories and six podiums this year. It was really rolling before Christmas. I made up for it with consistency. »

Hoping to put direct pressure on him, Dubreuil dreamed of being paired with the Japanese again, but the draw wanted him to line up in the last pair… with Stolz. No one will deny that it is even better to conclude the “battle of Quebec”…