Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, Connor Howe and Hayden Mayeur earn Canada’s only medal of the day
CALGARY, ALBERTA – Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, Connor Howe and Hayden Mayeur led Canada to silver in the men’s Team Pursuit at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Calgary on Friday, crossing the line in near record time at the Olympic Oval.
Howe (Canmore, Alta.), Gélinas-Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Ont.) and Mayeur (Toronto, Ont.) finished the 8-lap race in 3:36.485, just four one-hundreths of a second off the Canadian national record of 3:36.44 established by Ted-Jan Bloemen, Denny Morrison and Ben Donnelly in 2017.
Friday’s result was even more impressive considering it was the first time the trio skated the Team Pursuit together. The Canadians finished behind the Americans (3:35.925) and ahead of the Norwegians (3:39.887).
It was a milestone World Cup medal for Gélinas-Beaulieu, who captured his first in the distance, and for Mayeur, who reached the World Cup podium for the first time in his career.
Earlier in the afternoon, Ivanie Blondin came very close to winning a medal of her own but finished just off the podium in fourth place of the women’s 3000m (3:59.747). The race was won by Norway’s Ragne Wiklund (3:56.937), with Dutch skaters Marijke Groenewoud (+1.96) and Antoinette Rijpma – de Jong (+2.38) also reaching the podium.
Howe was Canada’s top finisher in the men’s 1500m with a sixth-place result (1:43.682). The Canmore native, who has reached the World Cup podium twice this season in the distance, got crossed up with his pair mate Peder Kongshaug of Norway in the final straight, causing him to lose speed and fall out of medal contention.
Three Canadians set personal best in their respective distances on Friday, with Carolina Hiller (38.247) and Rose Laliberté-Roy (38.820) both finishing the women’s 500m faster than ever before, while Béatrice Lamarche (4:09.005) eclipsed her record in the 1000m.
The ISU World Cup Speed Skating continues tomorrow at the Calgary Olympic Oval, where medals will be handed out in the women’s 1500m and Team Pursuit, along with the men’s 500m and 5000m. Tickets are still available at www.speedskating.ca.
Races will be live streamed on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports. CBC will also have broadcast television coverage starting at 3:00pm MT.
Quotes
It’s definitely a special moment to win my first career World Cup medal. And it means even more to win in front of a crowd of Canadians. Wearing the maple leaf on my back and going up on that podium today definitely felt extra special. I had a lot of fun out there skating with Connor and Antoine. The three of us wanted to win and hear our national anthem play, but we’ve got to show some respect to the Americans for skating a phenomenal race. They fought to the very end to get us at the line, so it’s up to us to catch them at the next one.
Hayden Mayeur
It`’s an incredible feeling to win this medal! Over the past few seasons, we’ve been watched the U.S. and Norway to try and pick up some tricks to help us improve in the Team Pursuit. Today, we put those tricks into practice and were also able to develop our own strategy and race plan. To finish ahead of the Norwegians, and just behind the Americans, is a real boost to our confidence.
Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu
Results
Men’s 1500m
- Connor Howe: 6th
- Tyson Langelaar: 13th
- Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu: 2nd (B Division)
- Vincent De Haître: 3rd (B Division)
- Jake Weidemann: 18th (B Division)
Women’s 500m
- Carolina Hiller: 16th
- Maddison Pearman: 15th (B Division)
- Béatrice Lamarche: 11th (B Division)
- Rose Laliberte-Roy: 10th (B Division)
- Brooklyn McDougall: 4th (B Division)
Women’s 3000m
- Ivanie Blondin: 4th
- Valerie Maltais: 6th
- Isabelle Weidemann: 11th
- Béatrice Lamarche: 3rd (B Division)
- Laura Hall: 12th (B Division)
Men’s Team Pursuit
- Canada: 2nd