Valérie Maltais’ coaches recommended that she skate with passion, without pressure, on Sunday at the World Long Track Speed Skating Championships. They told him to enjoy the moment in front of the Calgary crowd.
More relaxed, the Quebecer thus obtained her two most satisfactory individual results of the Worlds by ranking 6e 5000 m and 10e 1500m.
This year, Maltais had the best season of her career since switching from short track to long track in 2018. A campaign punctuated by three medals in mass starts, a championship title in the general classification of this discipline, two podiums in the 3000 m and three in the team pursuit. However, the sensations were less good at the World Championships and she did not hide that her expectations were higher for this weekend.
Its 10e Place in the 3000 m disappointed her a lot from the start. The athlete from La Baie then won a silver medal in the pursuit with Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann. A fall suffered in the mass start relegated her to 16e rank Saturday.
A very busy day ended the competition, where the 33-year-old skater did not lack energy.
“I was happy to wake up and feel like I had energy, almost more than Saturday morning! It was a bit like a second wind, she described. My 5000 m, I did it respecting the form I had. We’re at the World Championships, but I didn’t try to give more than I was capable of and I finished the race telling myself that this is what I had in my legs. »
She posted a time of 7 min 2.61 s in this test which has doubled her vision for some time. She will also go for tests at the end of the month to find out if the after-effects of concussions are the cause of her symptoms.
Dutchwoman Joy Beune won the gold medal. Her compatriot Irene Schouten finished second, followed by the Czech Martina Sáblíková.
Maltais competed in the 1500m event two hours later. Even after the five-kilometer race she had just completed at the end of the World Championships, she still had gas in the tank. She even delivered the best start of her career over this distance and finished in 1 min 54.99 s.
The Japanese Miho Takagi, the Chinese Mei Han and Joy Beune reached the podium.
“I felt great and had a good execution. I’m mostly a long distance girl, and it proves that when you’re not a sprinter, you’re able to recover quickly. I am very proud of the way I did my 1500m and, above all, of the way I concluded these Worlds,” she underlined.
This shows that the learning continues for the veteran.
“I was able to prove to myself that I was capable of going back [après le 3000 m]. I never gave up. It was my passion for sport that spoke and it is in these moments that I experience good performances. These are good lessons that I can learn from the Worlds. Starting a competition on the wrong foot doesn’t mean the rest will go badly. »
Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu’s asthma resurfaces
From coughing to vomiting in training due to his asthma to getting on the podium three times at the World Championships: Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu never gave up this season. His respiratory problems, however, resurfaced on Sunday after he placed 16e 1500m.
We saw him out of breath in the final straight and after he crossed the finish line. The skater started in the sixth pair and posted a time of 1 min 45.20 s to finish 3.76 s behind the winner, the American Jordan Stolz. The latter repeated his historic feat of last year by being crowned world champion three times during the same year. No one had achieved such a feat of arms before him.
The Dutchman Kjeld Nuis and the Norwegian Peder Kongshaug accompanied him on the podium.
“I am happy with my weekend and I tried everything in the 1500 m, but here, my body is due for a good recovery,” indicated the Quebecer to Sportcom, by messaging, unable to discuss orally due to an asthma attack.
As mentioned, Gélinas-Beaulieu’s asthma caused him a lot of problems this season and hampered his results.
One of the worrying episodes occurred during a training session last fall, between the World Cups in Beijing and Stavanger. The Canadian team was then in preparatory camp in Spain. A bike ride that was supposed to be light instead turned out to be very trying for Gélinas-Beaulieu. Even while walking, he sometimes had to stop, unable to follow his teammate Laurent Dubreuil around town. He remained in bed for a whole week and the 2023-2024 calendar looked particularly long at that time.
His asthma has always brought his share of challenges throughout his career, but the attacks have increased over time. The intensity of the races, the dusty hotel rooms, the pollution in the cities: the 31-year-old athlete did not have much respite in the World Cup.
“At the start of the year, I had asthma attacks race after race. It is a physical and mental illness. You prepare to race and you are not afraid of having pain during the race or of managing it badly. You’re just afraid of the asthma attack you’re going to have afterwards. It was really hard on the mind,” Gélinas-Beaulieu explained at the World Cup in Quebec, two weeks before the World Cup.
The triple medalist of the weekend has been taking a new injection medication for a little over two months and is starting to feel the effects. Sunday’s efforts seem to have reached the limits of one who hopes to undergo bronchothermoplasty next summer. This is an operation which consists of burning the bronchial muscles which cause asthma attacks and which should greatly improve the situation.
“It should help me continue high-level sport comfortably,” he said at the Intact Assurance Ice Center.
Gélinas-Beaulieu began the Worlds by defending his world champion title in the team sprint, alongside Dubreuil and Anders Johnson. The next day, the trio he formed with Connor Howe and Hayden Mayeur won bronze in the team pursuit, then on Saturday, he became vice-world champion in the mass start.
This means that he contributed to three of the ten podiums obtained by the Canadian delegation at the Olympic oval in Calgary, a record. The other Quebec medals are those of silver collected by Valérie Maltais and Laurent Dubreuil, in the women’s pursuit and the men’s 500 m.
Bloemen and Fish win silver and bronze in the 10,000m
PHOTO JEFF MCINTOSH, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ted-Jan Bloemen
Canadians Ted-Jan Bloemen and Graeme Fish won silver and bronze medals in the 10,000m event at the World Long Track Speed Skating Championships on Sunday in Calgary. The Italian Davide Ghiotto defended his title of world distance champion, which he covered in 12 min 38.82 s. Bloemen stopped the clock at 12:47.01 and Fish stopped at 12:48.61. Aged 37, Bloemen won the gold medal in the 10,000m at the 2018 Olympic Games. He is a three-time vice-champion at the Worlds. Fish, for his part, won the event at the 2020 World Championships in Salt Lake City.
The Canadian Press