Dutch speed skating mecca set to host final international event of 2019-2020 season
| Credit: Dave Holland, CSI Calgary Photos |
CALGARY, ALBERTA – Speed Skating Canada is proud to announce the long track skaters that have qualified for the upcoming ISU World Cup Speed Skating Final, from March 7-8 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Twelve Canadian skaters will suit up for the competition, including recently crowned world single distance champions Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.), Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.) and Graeme Fish (Moose Jaw, Sask.), along with world championship medalists Jordan Belchos (Toronto, Ont.), Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.) and Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Que.).
Only the top-12 ranked skaters in the world – or top-18 ranked for the mass start – are eligible to compete in this final international competition of the season.
Blondin, who is coming off a silver medal at the World Allround Championships, is currently the top ranked Canadian skater, sitting first overall in the mass start and second in long distances, while teammate Weidemann is third in the women’s long distances.
On the men’s side, Fish and Bloemen are fourth and fifth in the long distances, respectively, and Dubreuil, who claimed silver at the World Sprint Championships this past weekend, is fifth in the 1000m ans seventh in the 500m.
Bloemen was the last Canadian male to be crowned an overall World Cup champion, earning the 5000m/10000m crown in 2017-2018, the same season he won two Olympic medals in PyeongChang. On the women’s side, you need to go back to the 2011-12 season, when Christine Nesbitt earn the title in both the 1000m and 1500m, to find the last winner.
This season’s Canadian women’s team pursuit squad, comprised of Blondin, Weidemann and Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.), were crowned overall champions following the World Cup in Nagano in December. It was marked the country’s fourth title in the discipline since it was introduced in 2004.
The full list of athletes who will compete at the ISU World Cup Speed
Skating Final in Heerenveen, along with the distances they will be skating, can be found below:
- Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.): 1500m, 3000m, Mass Start
- Kaylin Irvine (Calgary, Alta.): 500m
- Isabelle Weidemann (Ottawa, Ont.): 3000m
- Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.): Mass Start
- Jordan Belchos (Toronto, Ont.): 5000m, Mass Start
- Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.): 5000m
- Alex Boisvert-Lacroix (Sherbrooke, Que.): 500m
- Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.): 500m, 1000m
- Graeme Fish (Moose Jaw, Sask.): 5000m
- Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Que.): 1500m
- Gilmore Junio (Calgary, Alta.): 500m
- Tyson Langelaar (Winnipeg, Man.): 1500m
CBC Sports will have live streaming coverage of both competition days, as well as televised coverage from 15:00 to 16:00 EST on Saturday, March 7 as part of their ‘Road to the Olympic Games’ program.
| MEDIA CONTACT Alain Brouillette Speed Skating Canada communications@speedskating.ca 613-601-2630 |
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