Laurent Dubreuil captures only medal for Canada on Saturday, while Ted-Jan Bloemen concludes the season ranked third overall in the long distances
HEERENVEEN, NETHERLANDS Landing in the Netherlands just hours before the ISU World Cup Final began, Laurent Dubreuil returned to the start line on Saturday to capture a silver medal in the mens 500m.
Skating in front of a sold-out crowd at the Thialf Ice Stadium, the Lvis, Que. native crossed the finish line with a time of 34.532 to share the second step of the podium with Japans Wataru Morishige, who clocked the exact same race time. Tatsuya Shinhama, also of Japan, won the gold medal with a time of 34.384. Dubreuil is the current leader in the 500m World Cup standings with 528 points, having won a medal in all nine races of the distance so far this season.
It has been a completely crazy day. After finally getting the green light yesterday to participate, the only flight that would arrive on time left at 6:00 this morning. I left straight from the airport in Amsterdam to Thialf and arrived only an hour and a half before my race. I didnt think I was capable of doing a race like I did; I thought I would finish closer to tenth. I only trained once in the past eight days and also had to overcome COVID. My result is absolutely incredible given these circumstances and I am very happy. Laurent Dubreuil
Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.) finished fifth (6:21.094) in the mens 5000m to end his season in third place in the overall long distance World Cup rankings with 264 points. World record holder and Olympic Champion in the distance Nils van der Poel of Sweden won Saturdays race (6:08.815) and captured the overall title with 360 points.
Dubreuil was back on the ice for the mens 1000m, finishing thirteenth (1:09.918) behind teammate Connor Howe (Canmore, Alta.) who was eleventh (1:09.178). Dubreuil concludes the season ranked seventh overall in the distance while Howe finishes tenth.
Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) was Canadas best finisher during Saturdays races on the womens side, placing tenth in the 1500m.
The World Cup Final in Heerenveen continues on Sunday with the second mens and womens 500m, womens 1000m, mens 1500m, womens 3000m and both the mens and womens mass start. The races will be streamed on CBC Sports starting 8 AM (ET).
Full Canadian Results
Mens 500m
Laurent Dubreuil 2nd (1st overall)
Gilmore Junio 12th (19th overall)
Womens 500m
Brooklyn McDougall 12th (18th overall)
Womens 1500m
Ivanie Blondin 10th (10th overall)
Maddison Pearman 13th (15th overall)
Mens 1000m
Connor Howe 11th (10th overall)
Laurent Dubreuil 13th (7th overall)
Mens 5000m
Ted-Jan Bloemen 5th (3rd overall)
Jordan Belchos 9th (13th overall)
MEDIA CONTACT
Nicole Espenant
Speed Skating Canada
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