Laurent Dubreuil adds 1,000-metre bronze to 500 title at speed skating worlds
Canadian teammate Ivanie Blondin wins silver in mass start at Heerenveen
Laurent Dubreuil of Lévis, Que., returned to the podium Saturday, capturing bronze in the men's 1,000 metres a day after winning the 500 at the ISU speed skating world championship in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
It was the second career world medal in the 1,000 for the 28-year-old Dubreuil, who won bronze last season.
He joins Jeremy Wotherspoon (3) and Denny Morrison (3) as the only Canadians to win multiple 1,000 medals and stands as one of only two Quebecois skaters to reach the podium in the distance, joining 1998 gold medallist Sylvain Bouchard.
WATCH | Canada's Dubreuil reaches podium on consecutive days:
"My race was good, but I didn't know if it would be enough," Dubreuil told Speed Skating Canada. "Yesterday [in the 500] the time said it all. My time wouldn't have held up today if Thomas [Krol] hadn't had two false starts. I had a good race, but I was lucky that one of the three favourites got disqualified, which hardly ever happens."
Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin captured her fourth career world silver and fifth medal overall, clocking 8:43.260 in the women's mass start behind Marijke Groenewoud (8:43.150). Rounding out the podium was Groenewoud's teammate from the Netherlands, Irene Schouten, in 8:43.560.
WATCH | Blondin adds another silver medal to world championship resumé:
The pace of the race picked up substantially in the final lap, with Groenewoud breaking from the pack out of the final turn. Blondin gave chase but was unable to overtake her, finishing 0.11 seconds behind.
Career bests for Canadian duo in 1,000m
"I feel like I positioned myself well throughout the entire race," Blondin said. "Marijke [Groenewoud] had so much speed going into the last lap and I'm just not there yet right now. I'm still really happy with silver.
"Our season leading up to this was far from optimal, so this is a positive result going into the Olympic season."
Winnipeg's Heather Mclean (1:16.280) and Quebec City's Béatrice Lamarche (1:16.666) both earned career-best results in the 1,000m, placing ninth and 12th, respectively. Calgary's Kaylin Irvine was 14th (1:16.845).
In the men's mass start, Toronto's Jordan Belchos, a silver medallist last season, settled for fourth in 7:33.070. American Joey Mantia was crowned world champion, joined on the podium by Arjan Stroetinga of the Netherlands and Bart Swings of Belgium.
Canada's medal count sits at five with one day of competition remaining.
On Sunday, titles will be up for grabs in the 1500, women's 5,000 and men's 10,000. Reigning Olympic champion Ted-Jan Bloemen and Belchos will be eyeing the podium in what will be the first and only 10,000 race of the international season.
