Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin earn double podium in women’s 3000m; Laurent Dubreuil captures 500m silver
HACHINOHE CITY, JAPAN – Canada’s long track speed skating team added four more medals to their season opening haul, as Graeme Fish, Laurent Dubreuil Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin all reached the podium on the second day of racing at the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships in Hachinohe City.
Graeme Fish (Moose Jaw, Sask.) led the charge with an impressive gold medal performance in the longest distance of the competition, setting a new track record time of 6:18.06 to finish atop the podium in the men’s 5000m. Japan’s Riku Tsuchiya (+5.34) and Seitaro Ichinohe (+6.05) joined the Canadian on the podium, while teammate Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.) narrowly missed out on a medal, settling for a fourth-place finish (+7.13).
Graeme Fish“I felt really good and executed my race plan very well, which was a lot of fun. This title gives me confidence for the upcoming weekends. It proves that I’ve been doing the right things in the off-season. I’m starting to feel like I did back in 2020. Obviously, there’s still a lot of stuff I need to keep working on, so I’m going to do my best to keep getting better every day on the ice so that I can get back to that level. Things are going in the right direction.”
Meanwhile, Canada’s top sprinter Laurent Dubreuil kicked off his season with a silver medal in the men’s 500m, using a speedy start of 9.58 seconds to finish the distance in 34.68. American phenom Jordan Stolz was victorious (34.47), winning his second title of the weekend after yesterday’s 1500m, while Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan rounded out the podium in bronze medal position (34.82).
Laurent Dubreuil“It was a good race, and I am happy with my time and execution. We’ve been in Asia for less than a week now, so to skate a 34.6 – faster that what I skated at the start of the season in Quebec City on an ice that is clearly slower – is pretty good. The men’s 500m is one of the strongest distances at the Four Continents Championships. Tatsuya Shinhama, Wataru Morishige, Jordan Stolz and I are all among the top skaters in the world, so to finish second behind Jordan is a really good accomplishment.”
A pair of Canadian women also reached the podium on Sunday, as Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin earned silver and bronze in the women’s 3000m, respectively. Japan’s Momoka Horikawa was victorious on home ice, posting a time of 4:06.91 to get the best of Weidemann (+1.12) and Blondin (+1.18). Fellow Canadian Valérie Maltais (La Baie, Que.) finished just off the podium in fourth place (+2.77).
It marked a promising start to the season for Weidemann, who was competing in her first event since winning 3000m silver at last season’s World Championships in Calgary. The 29-year-old long distance specialist skipped last month’s Canadian Long Track Championships as she was pre-qualified for the international circuit based on her 2023-24 results.
Isabelle Weidemann“This was my first race of the year, so I don’t think I can read into it too much, but I hope that it’s an indication of how things will go this season. I wanted to be a little conservative on the first lap and let myself feel that racing feeling again to get myself into it, and that paid off in the last few laps. I feel stronger and ready to race again, which is something that I didn’t really feel last year.”
The Canadian team will have several opportunities to add to their medal haul when the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships concludes Sunday with the men’s and women’s 1000m, Mass Start and Team Pursuit races. The competition will be live streamed on CBC Sports digital channels starting at 12:00am ET.
Results
500m
- Carolina Hiller: 7th
- Beatrice Lamarche: 16th
- Maddison Pearman: 19th
- Laurent Dubreuil: 2nd
- Anders Johnson: 8th
- Yankun Zhao: 13th
3000m
- Isabelle Weidemann: 2nd
- Ivanie Blondin: 3rd
- Valérie Maltais: 4th
5000m
- Graeme Fish: 1st
- Ted-Jan Bloemen: 4th