Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil wins speedskating silver in men’s 1,000 metres

KEARNS, Utah — Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil skated to a bronze medal in the men’s 1,000-metre on Saturday at the speedskating world single distance championships.

The medal is Dubreuil’s first in the distance on the senior world stage and represents his first podium finish at the world championships since 2015.

Dubreuil, from Levis, Que., put down a time of one minute 6.73 seconds — shaving half a second off his personal best — to sit in fourth place after his race.

He was promoted to bronze medal position after Dutch skater Thomas Krol was disqualified for impeding another athlete.

Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia set a new world record of 1:05.697 to take the 1,000 metre title, while the previous record-holder Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands took silver.

Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu of Sherbrooke, Que., earned himself a top-10 spot in the same distance, finishing ninth with a new personal best time of 1:07.258. Quebec City’s Alexandre St-Jean was 17th.

Canada’s men’s team pursuit squad — Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary), Jordan Belchos (Toronto) and Tyson Langelaar (Winnipeg) — finished just off the podium in fourth place. Their time of 3:38.273 put them behind the trios from the Netherlands, Japan and Russia.

In the women’s 5,000 metres, Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann, both from Ottawa, raced in the same pair to fifth and sixth place finishes. Blondin set a personal best time of 6:48.982.

Canadians Heather McLean (Winnipeg), Beatrice Lamarche (Quebec City) and Abigail McCluskey (Penticton, B.C.) ended the day ranked 19th, 21st and 24th, respectively, in the women’s 1,000 metres.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2020.

The Canadian Press