TOMASZÓW MAZOWIECKI, POLAND – Laurent Dubreuil reached an impressive milestone at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Tomaszów Mazowiecki on Friday, sprinting to his 40th career individual distance medal on the international circuit with a silver medal performance in the 500m.
Skating in the final pair against American phenom Jordan Stolz, the 32-year-old Canadian was ahead following his 9.56 second opener, but was unable to keep up with his speedy 20-year-old counterpart during the ensuing lap, settling for a second place finish with a time of 34.73. Stolz secured his seventh 500m medal of the season with the win (34.49), redemption of sorts after losing his first race in over a year on home ice in Milwaukee last month. Korea’s Jun-Ho Kim rounded out the podium in bronze medal position (+0.28)
Dubreuil was the only Canadian skater to reach the podium in an individual distance at the last World Cup competition in Milwaukee, bringing home a pair of bronze medals in the 500m. Friday’s result helped him jump into second place in the 500m standings with 330 points, giving him a slim seven-point lead over Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama (323 points). Stolz, meanwhile, is far ahead in first place with 474 points.
“The race today was a good race. It was hard to stay focused the last 200m with Jordan skating away. It was the part of the race that I would like to have back, but he was getting away no matter what. It’s still a good race and I stayed composed enough to get silver, so I’m happy with it,” shared Laurent Dubreuil.
Dubreuil has now captured an impressive 40 individual distance medals – 6 gold, 20 silver and 14 bronze – since joining the World Cup circuit during the 2011-12 season. One of Canada’s most decorated male long track skaters, the Lévis native is also an Olympic silver medalist in the 1000m, has reached the World Single Distance Championship podium eight times and is a two-time medalist at the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships.
“I feel quite happy about this 40th medal. It has been a goal of mine for two or three years now. After the last Olympics, I challenged myself – I was at 24 medals at that point, and I wanted to shoot for 50. It seemed a bit ambitious back then, but I won seven the year after the Olympics, five last season and I’m at four this season. Winning fifty medals is now the goal,” added Laurent Dubreuil.
In addition to Dubreuil’s podium, Canadian skaters earned four top 10 finishes during the opening day of racing in Poland.
Carolina Hiller (Prince George, B.C.) earned her first top 10 of the season in the 500m, finishing ninth overall with a time of 38.52. Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.) managed a season’s best fifth-place finish in the women’s 1500m (+1.90), while teammate Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) finished ninth (+2.60). And on the men’s side, Connor Howe (Canmore, Alta.) was seventh overall in the 1500m (1:47.56).
The ISU World Cup Speed Skating from Tomaszów Mazowiecki continues tomorrow with women’s 1000m and 3000m, along with the men’s 1000m and 5000m. Races will be live streamed on CBC Sports digital platforms beginning at 8:30am ET.
Results
Women’s 500m
Carolina Hiller: 9th
Brooklyn McDougall: 6th (B Division)
Rose Laliberté-Roy: 12th (B Division)
Béatrice Lamarche: 13th (B Division)
Men’s 500m
Laurent Dubreuil: 2nd
Anders Johnson: 19th
Christopher Fiola: 20th
Cédrick Brunet: 10th (B Division)
Women’s 1500m
Valérie Maltais: 5th
Ivanie Blondin: 9th
Abigail McCluskey: 11th (B Division)
Laura Hall: 13th (B Division)
Maddison Pearman: 20th (B Division)
Men’s 1500m
Connor Howe: 7th
David La Rue: 15th
Jake Weidemann: 12th (B Division)
Ted-Jan Bloemen: 30th (B Division)
CONTACT
Alain Brouillette
Speed Skating Canada
communications@speedskating.ca
613-601-2630