For a rare time this season, long track speed skater Laurent Dubreuil was all smiles after crossing the finish line in the 500m at the World Cup in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland. He was right to rejoice on Saturday, having just delivered his best race of the fall and which allowed him to climb onto the second step of the podium.
The Quebecer covered the distance in 34.77 seconds and finished just 7 hundredths of a second behind Chinese Gao Tingyu, gold medalist. This is his best time of the current campaign and according to the main person concerned, it owes it to his approach at the start of the day.
” I felt good. When you try too hard on the ice, you feel heavy and you strain. My plan was to feel lighter. […] In the first corner, I tend to be more tense. Last week, I pushed harder by doing 35 seconds and finishing sixth,” said Dubreuil.
“My first steps were very good, it was by far my best line exit [this season]. When Gregor [Jelonek] showed me the board with 9.58s for my start, I knew it was going to be a good race. A time of 9.5s at sea level, it’s very rare that I achieve that. »
Dubreuil thus earned the silver medal in the 500m for the second time this season after that obtained in Beijing in November.
Japan’s Wataru Morishige, who has dominated this event since the start of the 2023-2024 calendar, completed the podium in 34.82 s. He beat the American and world champion Jordan Stolz by less than a hundredth of a second.
“Beating Morishige is still something this year! He has won 4 of 6 races so far and for the first time this year I managed to beat him. I am really satisfied with my performance and the way I attacked the race,” added the Lévis athlete, relieved to have found his bearings.
Dubreuil will try to be just as relaxed on Sunday in the second 500m of the weekend.
Various injuries have bothered Laurent Dubreuil in recent months, starting with tendinitis in one knee which limited him to training between the months of August and October.
“Even today, if I do too much, my knee hurts a little the next day. I was able to train, but less specifically, he stressed. I had the counter-example of what we want to happen with my training partner Christopher Fiola, who is missing the season due to tendinitis. […] I saw that it hurt him and that it prevented him from skating, so I wanted to take it seriously. »
Despite all the precautions and work carried out before the first stages, this injury slowed down the world vice-champion in the 500m, in addition to bringing its share of frustration by preventing him from giving his all. At the first World Cup on the calendar, it was back pain that hampered him on the ice.
“Races like today, I know I have it in me and it’s not my knee that stopped me from doing more. […] I feel better than in October and the results prove it. I am slowly getting back into shape and I hope that with a good month of training, I will be able to return to my usual level,” concluded Dubreuil.
Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu skated the 1500m and is in 19th place (1min 50.24sec). Norwegian Peder Kongshaug won gold in 1:46.41.
American Jordan Stolz, who had just finished fourth in the 500m, received silver (0.07 seconds), followed by China’s Ning Zhongyan (0.58 seconds).
Gélinas-Beaulieu also took part in the team pursuit on Saturday with Vincent De Haître and Connor Howe. The Canadian trio took third place in Group B after clocking 3:53.69.
Even in the absence of its powerhouse Isabelle Weidemann, the Canadian women’s team pursuit found a way to finish on the podium on Saturday. Béatrice Lamarche, Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin were silver medalists with a time of 3 min 3.24 sec.
They finished behind the Japanese who clocked 3:0.35, while the Poles finished third in 3:5.88.
Lamarche replaced Weidemann for the occasion, who preferred not to participate in the World Cups presented in Europe this fall.
“The girls were really good and gave me confidence,” Béatrice Lamarche told Sportcom. The Quebecer took part in her first World Cup pursuit alongside the two Olympic gold medalists in this event.
Maltais led the trio, pushed by Lamarche, while the Ontarian Blondin followed behind. The Canadian skaters showed great synchronism until three-quarters of the way through the event. Béatrice Lamarche then came very close to falling when she placed her hand on the ice. Ivanie Blondin came to her aid by pushing her and they managed to limit the damage until the finish line.
“We were in ‘save the furniture’ mode! There were still two laps left and we had a long way to go. With four laps in my legs, I, who am perhaps the least enduring of the gang, was starting to feel a little weak in my legs,” said Lamarche.
“It could have been better, but it was my first experience, I was a little on edge even though I wasn’t too stressed! We lost speed at that point and the girls literally had my back! As they mentioned at the beginning, we leave together and we finish together. »
A little earlier, Valérie Maltais ranked 18th in the 1500m won by the Japanese Miho Takagi. Béatrice Lamarche finished third in group B over this distance.
The Tomaszow Mazowiecki World Cup will resume on Sunday.