Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil claims overall World Cup title in 500m

Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil finished fourth in his 500-metre event on Sunday in Heerenveen, Netherlands, but it was more than enough to secure his first overall World Cup season title.

Japan's Tatsuya Shinhama, who won Saturday's race, also picked up the win in Sunday's event in 34.487 seconds, but could not catch points leader Dubreuil.

The Canadian finished 15-100ths of a second behind Shinhama but ended up with an insurmountable point total of 614, to the Japanese skater's 586.

"My goal this weekend was to continue to defend my position at the top of the overall classification," Dubreuil told Speed Skating Canada. "I had a good lead before this competition and knew that my preparation has not been ideal.

"It has been a goal my whole career to achieve first place in the World Cup classification and I am very proud to have accomplished it this year. It's really a Cinderella story ending to a difficult few weeks."

Dubreuil won silver in the men's 1,000 at last month's Beijing Olympics, after a disappointing showing in his signature event. He finished fourth in the 500 in Beijing, the only time all season he missed the podium in the distance.

WATCH | Dubreuil clinches overall season title in the men's 500m:

Canadian Dubreuil clinches overall World Cup title in 500m speed skating

3 years ago

Duration 1:53

Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., finished fourth in his 500-metre race, but was still able to claim the overall season championship.

Canada's Ivanie Blondin was overtaken at the finish line for both the bronze medal and the overall title in the final mass start event of the season.

The Ottawa native, who won Olympic gold with teammates Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais in the team pursuit in Beijing last month, entered the race with a 34-point lead over her nearest competitor, Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida.

The Italian took 21 sprint points to Blondin's 12, and crossed the finish line seven-hundredths of a second ahead of the Canadian for the bronze-medal finish. That gave Lollobrigida the points she needed to leapfrog Blondin for the season title.

Howe 3rd in men's 1,500

Dutch skaters Irene Schouten and Marijke Groenewoud took gold and silver, respectively. Schouten also finished third-overall for the season.

Fellow Canadian Connor Howe posted a bronze-medal performance in the final men's 1,500 race of the season. That helped the Canmore, Alta. athlete to a career-best second overall finish in the season standings, behind Joey Mantia of the United States.

Howe skated to a time of 1:44.393.

"It was definitely special to skate in front of such a big crowd, especially since that hasn't been possible the last two seasons," Howe said. "Finishing this season in second overall means the consistency was there for me, which is motivating and exciting for next year."

A month ago, Canada's top long tracker in the men's 1,500 placed fifth in his Olympic debut in 1:44.86.

Howe, who's studying mathematics at the University of Calgary with a minor in urban planning, pre-qualified for the Olympic 1,500 by virtue of his top-eight World Cup standing after four events. On Dec. 11, he clocked 1:42.42 — 13-100ths of a second faster than his previous best — to win a silver medal on his home track in Calgary and climb to third in the standings.

Before embarking on his rookie World Cup season, Howe won the 1,500 at the Canadian long track championships last October. He also medalled twice in the team pursuit alongside Ted-Jan Bloemen and Jordan Belchos.

A year ago, Howe won team pursuit silver at the world single distance championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands, where he was sixth in the 1,500 after a 19th-place performance in 2020.

Other Canadian results on Sunday:

• Women's 500 metres: Brooklyn McDougall, 13th (15th overall)
• Men's 500: Gilmore Junio, 13th (16th overall)
• Women's 3,000: Valérie Maltais, 7th (8th overall)
• Men's 1,500: Tyson Langelaar, 11th (14th overall)
• Women's 1,000: Maltais, 7th (11th overall)
• Mass Start men: Jordan Belchos, 6th (13th overall)
• Mass Start women: Maltais, 7th (5th overall)