Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec all bring home medals during the first competition day in Halifax
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA – Despite more than 30mm of rain falling on Monday, the ice was in great shape for the first day of long track action at the Emera Oval in Halifax, where Alberta’s Jalen Doan and Isabelle Champagne were crowned 1500m champions.
Doan and his pair mate Luca Veeman from Saskatchewan were neck-and-neck throughout grueling distance, with Doan setting a new track record of 1:57.76 on the outdoor ice to edge out his recent ISU World Junior Championship teammate Veeman (1:58.49) by just 0.73 of a second to win gold. They were joined on the podium by Quebec’s Zacharie Després, who clocked in at 2:00.03.
Champagne ensured that Alberta left the oval with a pair of gold medals on opening day, posting a time of 2:33.22 to narrowly defeat Manitoba’s Opening Ceremony flag bearer Sofia Bieber (2:33.44). Saskatchewan’s Serena Dallaire (2:37.43) brough home the bronze medals to bring her province’s long track total to two.
The full results from today’s races are available on GemsPro. Fans can also re-watch the races on-demand by visiting canadagames.ca/watch.
The long track competition continues Wednesday with the 500m and Team Pursuits. Skaters will also be in action on Thursday with the long distances (3000m/5000m), before finishing the competition of Friday with the 1000m and Mass Start.
Quotes
“It was a good race. I’m glad I could have a good result and achieving a new track record is pretty exciting. Going into it we knew that there would be some trouble with the wind, but in my pair, Luca Veeman gave me a really good draft with two laps to go and it just worked out really well for me.”
Jalen Doan (AB)
“I’m really happy with that race. I came to these games hoping for a good 1500m and a really solid race, and I executed my race plan. I’m really happy with how I skated today. It was definitely a fight, but I consider myself pretty good at just putting my head down and skating it out and I can tell you that’s what I did today so I’m really happy.”
Isabelle Champagne (AB)
Results
Women’s 1500m Top-5
- 1st Isabelle Champagne (AB) 2:33.22
- 2nd Manitoba Sofia Bieber (MB) 2:33.44
- 3rd Serena Dallaire (SK) 2:37.43
- 4th Ella Cloutier (SK) 2:39.97
- 5th Emilie Greenfield (QC) 2:40.74
Men’s 1500m Top-5
- 1st Jalen Doan (AB) 1:57.76
- 2nd Luca Veeman (SK) 1:58.49
- 3rd Zacharie Després (QC) 2:00.03
- 4th Daniel Hall (AB) 2:00.16
- 5th Ryan Kulbacki (MB) 2:00.21