Graeme Fish, Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin earn top-10 results on home ice in Calgary
CALGARY, ALBERTA – The Olympic Oval’s ‘Fastest Ice in the World’ lived up to its historic reputation on Saturday, as Italy’s Davide Ghiotto broke the 10,000m World Record at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating, shattering the three-year old mark with a time of 12:25.69 to win gold and etch his name into the record books.
Ghiotto’s race was the highlight of the day, as he not only eclipsed the previous record of 12:30.74 skated by Sweden’s Nils van der Poel at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing but also blew away his competitors but a substantial margin. He was joined on the podium by Metoděj Jílek of Czechia (+12.12) and Sander Eitrem of Norway (+12.35).
Graeme Fish (Moose Jaw, Sask.) was the top Canadian finisher in the weekend’s longest distance, finishing fifth with a time of 12:40.10, which happened to be his fastest ever time skated in Calgary. Teammate Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.) finished the 25-lap race in tenth position with a time of 13:01.14.
A pair of Canadian women also earned top 10 results on Saturday, with Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.) and Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) finishing ninth and tenth in the 1500m, respectively. The 1500m podium was topped by Joy Beune of the Netherlands (1:51.72), Miho Takagi of Japan (+0.13) and fellow Dutch skater Antoinette Rijpma-De Jong (+0.45).
For the second day in a row, 20-year-old American Jordan Stolz broke an Olympic Oval track record, this time en route to gold in the men’s 1000m with a time of 1:05.90. Dutch teammates Jenning De Boo (+0.15) and Kjeld Nuis (+0.83) rounded out the podium.
Canada’s lone skater in the distance, Laurent Dubreuil, put forth a valiant effort in his first race back from injury suffered at the fall World Cup in Nagano, earning an 11th place finish with a time of 1:07.73.
“My injury is totally fine now and behind me. I’m battling the end of a cold and sinus infection, which hurts the head a bit in the skating position, but everybody is dealing with their own issues. I still did my best and I think tomorrow can be a good day.”Laurent Dubreuil
The ISU World Cup Speed Skating concludes tomorrow with the men’s and women’s 500m, Mass Start and Team Sprint, a distance in which Canada are the reigning World Champions. Races will be live streamed on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sport platforms. Tickets for the event remain available and can be purchased online at www.speedskating.ca/calgary2025
Results
Men’s 10,000m
- Graeme Fish: 5th
- Ted-Jan Bloemen: 10th
- Daniel Hall: 25th (Division B)
- Aimé Perreault: DNF (Division B)
Women’s 1500m
- Ivanie Blondin: 9th
- Valérie Maltais: 10th
- Abigail McCluskey: 12th (Division B)
- Béatrice Lamarche: 13th (Division B)
- Alexa Scott: 22nd (Division B)
Men’s 1000m
- Laurent Dubreuil: 11th
- Connor Howe: 3rd (Division B)
- Anders Johnson: 6th (Division B)
- David La Rue: 10th (Division B)
- Yankun Zhao: 12th (Division B)
CONTACT
Alain Brouillette
Speed Skating Canada
communications@speedskating.ca
613-601-2630