It was a fantastic weekend for Canadian speed skaters at the World Cup speed skating event at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta this past weekend. Canadian speed skaters came away with eight medals, eclipsing the total of seven medals they won a month ago in Poland. This was also the final World Cup speed skating event before the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Four Canadians won multiple medals. Canadian Olympic gold medallist Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary, Alberta won the bronze medal in the World Cup men’s 5000 metres on Friday, and a bronze medal in the men’s team pursuit with Connor Howe of Canmore, Alberta, and Jordan Belchos of Toronto, Ontario on Sunday. Howe also won a silver medal in the men’s 1500 metres on Saturday. Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario won the gold medal with Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa, Ontario and Canadian Olympic silver medalist Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Quebec in the women’s team pursuit on Saturday, and also won a silver medal in the women’s mass start on Sunday. Weidemann also won a second World Cup medal on Friday, as she placed second in the women’s 1000 metres. The other Canadian multiple medalist on the weekend was Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Quebec, who won gold and bronze in the two men’s 500 metres events. Bloemen won gold in the men’s 10000 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Maltais won silver in the women’s 3000 metre relay at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
In the men’s 500 metre World Cup on Friday, Dubreuil won the gold medal with a time of 33.78 seconds. Tingyu Gao of China won the silver medal with a time of 33.88 seconds. Yuma Murakami of Japan won the bronze medal with a time of 33.90 seconds. Dubreuil reached the podium by 0.18 seconds over Viktor Mushtakov of Russia, who had a fourth place time of 33.96 seconds. The gold medal for Dubreuil came in a Canadian record time as Jeremy Wotherspoon of Humboldt, Saskatchewan had the old record time of 34.03 seconds on November 9, 2007. Dubreuil’s time of 33.78 seconds was also a track record at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.
Dubreuil’s time on Sunday in the men’s 500 metres was 34.06 seconds in winning bronze. He reached the podium by .06 seconds over Ignat Golovatsiuk of Belarus, who had a fourth place time of 34.12 seconds. Mushtakov won the gold medal with a time of 33.90 seconds, and Murakami won the silver medal with a time of 33.99 seconds. Dubreuil leads the World Cup standings with 420 points. Wataru Morishige of Japan is second with 351 points.
In the women’s 3000 metres on Friday, Weidemann had a personal best time of 3:55.33 to take silver. Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy won the gold medal with a time of 3:54.44. Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic won the bronze medal with a time of 3:55.50 seconds. Weidemann had a time of .36 seconds faster than Ragne Wiklund of Norway, who had a fourth place time of 3:55.69. Weidemann leads the World Cup women’s long distance standings with 205 points. Wiklund is in second with 182 points.
In the men’s 5000 metres on Friday, Bloemen has a time of 6:09.52. Nils van der Poel of Sweden won the gold medal with a time of 6:04.29. Davide Ghiotto of Italy won the silver medal with a time of 6:09.34. Bloemen reached the podium by 0.65 seconds over Ruslan Zakharov of Russia, who had a time of 6:10.17. Bloemen is second in the World Cup men’s 5000 metres standings with 184 points. Van der Poel leads the men’s long distance standings with 240 points, as he is undefeated in World Cup men’s 5000 metre action this year.
In the men’s 1500 metres on Saturday, Howe had a time of 1:42.43. Joey Mantia of the United States won the gold medal with a time of 1:41.86. Allan Dahl Johansson of Norway won the bronze medal with a time of 1:43.28. Howe reached the podium by 0.98 seconds over Emery Lehman of the United States, who had a fourth place time of 1:43.41. Howe is in third place in the World Cup standings in the men’s 1500 metres with 160 points. Mantia leads with 222 points.
In the women’s team pursuit on Saturday, Maltais, Blondin and Weidermann had a winning time of 2:52.07 seconds. Japan won silver with a time of 2:52.89 seconds. China won the bronze medal with a time of 2:58.43 seconds. Canada reached the podium by 6.7 seconds over Russia, who had a fourth place time of 2:58.79. Canada wins the World Cup standings with 360 points, 76 more points than Japan, which finished in second place with 284 points.
In the women’s mass start on Sunday, Blondin finished behind Lollobrigida, and ahead of bronze medalist Elizaveta Golubeva of Russia. Blondin leads the World Cup standings with 492 points. Lollobrigida is second with 458 points.
In the men’s team pursuit, Belchos, Bloemen and Howe had a time of 3:38.60. They reached the podium by 0.95 seconds over Russia, who had a fourth place time of 3:39.55. The United States won the gold medal with a time of 3:35.59 and Norway won the silver medal with a time of 3:36.24. Canada finished in third place in the World Cup men’s team pursuit standings with 284 points. The United States was the World Cup champion in the men’s team pursuit with 312 points.
