Laurent Dubreuil of Quebec City, Quebec won the gold medal on Friday in the men’s 500 metres at the 2021 World Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands. It is the third career medal for Dubreuil at the World Speed Skating Championships. He previously won bronze in 2015 in Heerenveen in the men’s 500 metres, and bronze in 2020 in Salt Lake City in the men’s 1000 metres.
In the men’s 500 metres, Dubreuil posted a winning time of 34.398 seconds. Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia won the silver medal with a time of 34.54 seconds. Dai Dai Ntab of the Netherlands won the bronze medal with a time of 34.628 seconds. Dubreuil earned a medal by 0.28 seconds over Kai Verbij of the Netherlands, who was fourth with a time of 34.678 seconds.
Team Canada won two more medals on Friday. Both of them came in the men’s and women’s team pursuit.
In the men’s team pursuit, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary, Alberta, Jordan Belchos of Toronto, Ontario, and Connor Howe of Canmore, Alberta, had a second place time of 3:41.711 in winning the silver medal. The Netherlands team of Beau Snellink, Marcel Bosker and Patrick Roest won the gold medal with a time of 3:41.429. Russia won the bronze medal as Sergey Trofimov, Ruslan Zakharov, and Danila Semerikov with a time of 3:42.662. Bloemen, Belchos and Howe reached the podium by 1.52 seconds over Norway, which had a fourth place time of 3:43.231.
In the women’s team pursuit, Canadian Olympic silver medalist Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Quebec, Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Ontario, and Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa, Ontario had a second place time of 2:55.973. Ireen Wust, Antoinette de Jong, and Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 2:55.795. Evgeniia Lalenkova, Elizaveta Golubeva, and Natalya Veronina of Russia won the bronze medal with a time of 2:59.358. Maltais, Blondin and Weidemann reached the podium by 3.658 seconds over Norway, which had a fourth place time of 2:59.631.
Bloemen won a gold medal in the men’s 10000 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Maltais won a silver medal in the women’s 3000 metre relay at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. The medals for Dubreuil, Bloemen, Belchos, Howe, Maltais, Blondin, and Weidemann will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
