(Calgary) Laurent Dubreuil and Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu made it to the podium together at the World Cup speed skating event in Calgary. The two teammates won silver and bronze respectively in the 1,000 meters on Sunday afternoon.
After a usual strong start, Dubreuil seemed on the verge of victory, but finally failed two hundredths of the time of the winner, Hein Otterspeer. Winner of the 500m the day before, the Quebecer achieved a time of 1 min 07.30 against 1 min 07.28 for the Dutchman.
With a time of 1 min 07.32, Gélinas-Beaulieu followed two hundredths after Dubreuil to win the bronze medal. On Friday, he had won silver in the team pursuit.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu
American prodigy Jordan Stolz, who was paired with Canadian Connor Howe (14e) finished fourth, two hundredths behind Gélinas-Beaulieu.
Gélinas-Beaulieu’s surprise podium caused outpourings of joy in the Canadian clan. Incredible, the 30-year-old skater fell into the arms of his coach Muncef Ouardi.
In the women’s 1000m, Jutta Leerdman signed her third consecutive victory. With a time of 1 min 12.82, the Dutch sensation was clearly ahead of American Kimi Goetz (+0.71) and Austrian Vanessa Herzog (+0.75). The Japanese Miho Takagi, Olympic champion, escaped the podium for a hundredth. Ivanie Blondi, the only Canadian in Group A, settled for 14e place in 1 min 15.08.