Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Quebec won a gold medal for Canada in the men’s 500m at a World Cup speed skating event in Heerenveen, Netherlands on Saturday. It highlighted an extremely successful weekend for Canadian speed skaters in Heerenveen because as a team Canada won six medals over the three days of competition in events that have full Olympic medal status.
In the men’s 500m, Dubreuil posted a time of 34.80 seconds. The Netherlands had speed skaters finish second through fifth as reigning Olympic silver medalist Jan Smeekens won the silver medal with a time of 34.84 seconds and reigning Olympic bronze medalist Ronald Mulder won the bronze medal with a time of 34.85 seconds. Dubreuil reached the podium by six one hundredths of a second as Kai Verbij finished in fourth place with a time of 34.86 seconds.
Dubreuil is in third place in the men’s 500m World Cup standings with 115 points. He is behind Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway and Verbij.
Meanwhile it was an extremely successful weekend for Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin, who won one silver medal and two bronze medals. In addition to her bronze medal she won in the women’s team pursuit on November 10, Blondin won two individual medals– silver in the women’s mass start on Saturday and a bronze in the women’s 3000m on Sunday.
In the mass start, Blondin had an overall time of 8:31.16. Ayano Sato of Japan won the gold medal with a time of 8:31.12. Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy won the bronze medal with a time of 8:31.37.
In the women’s 3000m, Blondin had a time of 4:04.16. Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 4:03.53. Natalia Voronina of Russia won the silver medal with a time of 4:04.00. Blondin reached the podium by 0.75 seconds as Miho Takagi of Japan finished in fourth place with a time of 4:04.91.
In the men’s 1500m on Saturday, Vincent De Haitre of Ottawa, Ontario won the silver medal with a time of 1:45.87. Denis Yuskov of Russia won the gold medal with a time of 1:44.42. Thomas Krol of the Netherlands won the bronze medal with a time of 1:45.92. Dubreuil reached the podium by 0.22 seconds over Koen Verweij of the Netherlands.
In the men’s 5000m on Sunday, Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary, Alberta won the silver medal with a time of 6:14.95. Speed skating legend Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 6:12.88. Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway won the bronze medal with a time of 6:15.81. Bloemen earned a medal by 1.75 seconds over Jan Blokhuijsen of the Netherlands. The medals for Bloemen, Blondin, de Haitre and most of all Dubreuil will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
