Dubreuil skates a season’s fastest time in 500m; Maltais, Blondin and Lamarche reach podium in Team Pursuit

TOMASZÓW MAZOWIECKI, POLAND – The second day of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating Tomaszów Mazowiecki wraps up with two silver medals for Canada. 

Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.) finished second out of 20 competitors in the men’s 500m, skating a season’s best time of 34.77 (+0.07). He kicked off his race with a strong start from the line, clocking in at 9.58. Tingyu Gao of China took the top spot at 34.70, and Wataru Morishige of Japan finished third at 34.82 (+0.12). 

Later in the day, Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.), Béatrice Lamarche (Quebec City, Que.), and Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, Ont.) raced to the silver medal in the women’s Team Pursuit with a time of 3:03.24 (+2.89), earning Lamarche the first World Cup medal of her career. Japan won gold (3:00.35) and Poland took the bronze (3:05.88), while Canada’s pair mates from the Netherlands were disqualified as one of the skaters failed to wear her time transponders. 

Saturday’s podium in the women’s Team Pursuit was even more special as it was the country’s first without Isabelle Weidemann since the 2018-19 season. The Ottawa native returned home following the two Asian World Cups to focus on her preparations for the second half of the season. 

Prior to this weekend, the trio of Blondin, Maltais and Weidemann dominated the distance since being paired together post-PyeongChang 2018, winning multiple Works Cup medals and earning the World Championship title last season and Olympic gold at Beijing 2022.  

The ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Tomaszów Mazowiecki will conclude on Sunday with the women’s 1000m and Mass Start, as well as the men’s 500m-2 and 5000m. Races can be watched live on CBC Sports digital platforms, including CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem app.

Quotes

“It was a very good race. Starting with the start, 9.58 is an excellent time, my best start of the season. At any moment, when I do 9.50 at sea level, it’s very good. It immediately puts me in the running for a medal. Gao, it’s certain that with a 9.43, he’s already 0.15 seconds ahead, so it’s not easy to catch up. All the other skaters are in the same time interval as me. That gives me a good chance of being competitive with a good lap. I had a bit of trouble at the end of the race, maybe I lost my position. If there was one more thing I could have done better to get the few hundredths that separated me from victory, that was it. I’m very satisfied, and it’s not for nothing that I celebrated at the end of the race. I didn’t feel very good up until now. With a second medal this autumn and a good race like today, I’m closing in on third place overall. I’m satisfied with this performance and I’m already looking forward to tomorrow!”

Laurent Dubreuil 

“For the pursuit, I’m really happy with the result. It was my first pursuit with the girls. We still had expectations, but at the same time, anything can happen. I think we executed the start really well. The girls wanted to go a bit faster than in Japan. At one point, I had a little tangle with myself with two laps to go. We lost a lot of speed and I almost fell. Luckily, I had Ivanie holding me back and Valérie who, at the end of the race, was almost pulling me instead of me pushing her. We’re all proud, it gives me confidence for the rest and I’m really happy, it was a great experience. I’m glad I did it with the girls, they supported me all the way. It was very positive, and I can’t wait for the next one!

Béatrice Lamarche 

Results 

1500m 

Ivanie Blondin: 7th 
Valérie Maltais: 18th 
Béatrice Lamarche: 3rd (Division B) 
Maddison Pearman: 6th (Division B) 
Laura Hall: 17th (Division B) 
Connor Howe: 9th 
Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu: 19th 
Vincent De Haître: 2nd (Division B) 

500m 

Carolina Hiller: 17th 
Brooklyn McDougall: 7th (Division B) 
Maddison Pearman: 16th (Division B) 
Laurent Dubreuil: 2nd 
Anders Johnson: 6th (Division B) 
Joshua Telizyn: 12th (Division B) 

Team Pursuit 

Valérie Maltais, Béatrice Lamarche, Ivanie Blondin: 2nd 
Vincent De Haître, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, Connor Howe: 3rd (Division B)