Canadian long trackers bring home 7 medals after a successful World Cup in Poland

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The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing are right around the corner and many Canadian athletes are starting to prepare for the big world class event.

This weekend, 22 of Canada’s best long track speed skaters were in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland for the first World Cup of the season. They all competed in a variety of distances and some skaters brought some hardware home.

This was the first of four ISU World Cups that will help determine who Team Canada will be taking to Beijing.

Racing started on Friday with the 500m and 3000m being skated by the women, and the 500m and 5000m being skated by the men.

Laurent Dubreuil of Québec, skated his 500m with a time of 34,68 which landed him a bronze medal. Teammates Gilmore Junio and Alex Boisvert-Lacroix placed in 16th and 17th place respectively. World record holder Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia was almost a second behind Dubreuil, and has last in the A Division.

Isabelle Weidemann powerfully skated to second place in the 3000m with a time of 4 minutes and 5 seconds.

Team Canada’s 5000m world record holder, Ted-Jan Bloemen skated to a silver medal with a time of 6 minutes and 20 seconds, 5 seconds behind first place. Teammates Graeme Fish finished 12th with a time of 6 minutes and 29 seconds and Jordan Belchos finished 16th, crossing the line with a time of 6 minutes and 35 seconds.

Heather McLean, Brooklyn McDougall, and Marsha Hudey all skated in the women’s 500m, but weren’t able to crack the top 10.

After day one, Canada already had 3 podium finishes, and they weren’t done yet.

Day 2 saw a large variety of distances competed.

The women were scheduled to race in the 500m, 1000m, and the six lap team pursuit. Team Canada didn’t have any top 10 finishes in the 500m or the 1000m, but Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann, and Valerie Maltais were able to skate to the top of the podium for the team pursuit with a time of 3 minutes, beating Japan and the Netherlands.

Even though the women beat the Olympic Champions, Weidemann said that it wasn’t their best performance.

“We were a little bit scrambly. It was our first one in a long time. So it was just figuring it out again. But it was a really great first one and I think we’re excited to keep building off of it.” -Isabelle Weidemann

The men skated the 1500m and mass start.

Twenty-one year old, Connor Howe skated into 5th place with a time of 1 minute 46 seconds, with teammates Tyson Langelaar and Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu finishing 15th and 19th respectively.

Unfortunately, there were no Canadians in the mass start final.

Today was the final day of action, and three more medals were brought home.

The women has the 1500m and the mass start.

Ivanie Blondin was the lone Canadian in the 1500m, and skated into eleventh place with a time of one minute 58 seconds. However, it is in the mass start where she dominated.

After 16 laps with 16 other skaters on the oval, Ivanie placed second, scoring 40 points in the race.

The mass start is based on how many points you accumulate during the race. Specific laps are point laps, and the sooner you finish the lap, the more points you are awarded.

After having to race three races throughout the day, Blondin was pleased with her results.

“The mass start went really well. Today was a very tough day physically with three races, but I’m glad I pulled through and made it happen in the end. There was lots of action going on in the middle of the race and I had to fight to keep in a good position. But that’s where I’m at my best, so I was right in my element.”

The men competed in the 500m, 1000m, and the team pursuit to wrap up the day.

Dubreuil clinched his second podium finish in the 500m, gliding his way into second place with a time of 34,73, 4 hundredth behind Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama.  Teammates Junio and Boisvert-Lacroix finished in 18th and 20th respectively,

 

“I am very happy with my day today and my first World Cup overall. To be on the podium two times in two 500 races is not easy with the depth of this field,” -Dubreuil

No one medalled in the 1000m, but Dubreuil and Gélina-Beaulieu both finished in the top ten and Summer and Winter Olympian, VIncent de Haître came in 14th.

Jordan Belchos, Ted-Jan Bloemen, and Connor Howe were able to clinch a silver medal in the team pursuit with a time of 3 minutes and 45 seconds, less than a second behind the Netherlands.

After seeing the results of this World Cup, I believe that Canada is going to do well in long track speed skating at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. I expect us to do well in both team pursuits, the women’s mass starts, the 3000m, 5000m for both men and women, the 500m for the men, and the 10000m. When the Olympics are occuring, expect to see me glued to a screen watching speed skating.

The next World Cup is taking place in Stavanger, Norway on Friday. Team Canada will be on home ice on December 9th for the World Cup in Calgary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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