Dubreuil, Maltais, Bloemen, Hiller win national titles at Canadian long track championships

Carolina Hiller, Laurent Dubreuil, Valerie Maltais and Ted-Jan Bloemen all earned national titles on Thursday, the opening day of the Canadian long track speed skating championships in Calgary.

Hiller, from Prince George, B.C., raced to her second straight national title in the women's 500 metres.

The 26-year-old came out ahead of 24 competitors with a winning time of 38.49 seconds.

"This feels great," Hiller said in a release. "Two years ago, I never thought that I would be on the podium, let alone be Canadian champion two years in a row. I'm just so proud of myself and excited for the rest of the season.

"There are some technical things that I want to improve on tomorrow that I kind of messed up today, so I'm looking forward to that."

Jenna Larter of Brookfield, P.E.I., earned silver with a new personal best time of 38.87, and Calgary's Brooklyn McDougall finished third with a time of 38.91.

Dubreuil, from Levis, Que., cruised to yet another men's 500-metre crown.

"I'm really happy to have won the Canadian championship title again this year!" Dubreuil said. "It was not my best race or my fastest time, but I've been dealing with a knee injury for the past month and a half.

"A time of 34.50 on a day when the ice was not necessarily the fastest is still pretty good. It's a great way to kick off the season and I'm going to use the next month to get myself into World Cup shape."

Maltais, from La Baie, Que., won the women's women's 3,000 metres with a time of 4:02.84. She was joined on the podium by Ottawa's Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa), who skated season-best times of 4:04.76 and 4:06.09, respectively.

It marked only the second national title of Maltais's long track career, having also captured 1,000 metre gold in 2021.

"I am very happy with my race and that I was able to follow my tactical plan today," Maltais said. "Being pre-qualified changes the mental approach a little bit, but it also provides an opportunity to practice some things.

"Training this summer went very well. I had a few hiccups and some minor injuries, but I was able to remain focused on training and the season ahead in order to arrive in Calgary in optimal shape."

Bloemen, from Calgary, crushed his competition in the men's 5,000 metres.

"I'm really happy to be Canadian champion again. I'm not quite as ready as I usually am to race this time of year because of the training plan I've adopted, so I'm happy I could perform like this today," Bloemen said. "The race was a bit of a weird one with some really fast laps at the end.

"I felt heavy in the beginning and couldn't really push myself hard enough for a really fast 5km, so I decided to play it smart and wait for three kilometres left to see what I had in the bank."

Graeme Fish of Moose Jaw, Sask., earned the bronze medal with a time of 6:26.79.

National titles will be up for grabs in the men's and women's 1,000 metres, women's 5,000 metres and men's 10,000 metres.

Watch live coverage of the Canadian long track championships on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem, with action continuing Friday at noon ET.