Gilmore Junio skates fastest 500 of the season at World Cup selections

Gilmore Junio is setting the pace ahead of the long track speed skating World Cup season. 

Junio came up with the best time in the world so far this season in the 500 metres on Friday in the second day of the long track fall World Cup selections at Calgary's Olympic Oval.

In the first of two 500 events slated for the weekend, the 26-year-old from Calgary earned the win in 34.51 seconds.

Alex Boisvert-Lacroix of Sherbrooke, Que., was second in 34.68. The 29-year-old already pre-qualified in this distance for the first World Cup of the season thanks to the bronze medal he won in the 500 at the 2016 world single-distance championships. Laurent Dubreuil of Lévis, Que., finished third in 34.75.

"It was exciting to see such a fast race today. I didn't expect to come up with a time of 34.51 seconds this early in the season," Junio said. "But I was really happy with the way I executed and it gives me a lot of confidence moving forward and going towards the World Cup season."

"Knowing how deep our team is, that's one of the reasons why I went so fast today. Anyone of our skaters can go that fast on a daily basis, so you have to really step up your game and bring it every day."

Boisvert-Lacroix, Junio, Dubreuil and Alexandre St-Jean (34.95) of Quebec City, Que., all came within the time standard of 35.12 seconds needed to be eligible to qualify in this distance for the first World Cup stage of the 2016-17 season.

Will Dutton of Humboldt, Sask., skated to a time of 34.61 but was disqualified after forgetting to wear his armband. His time remains eligible, however, for the selection process.

For his part, Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., came up with the 14th time. The four-time Olympic medallist skated in his first sanctioned competition in 18 months, after having a motorcycle accident in 2015 and suffering a stroke last April.

"The 500 is not my best event, but it's hard not to compare this race to my personal best or to my average race," Morrison said.

"This 500 was well below what I can do, but I need to keep things in perspective and I need to look at where I was six months ago," he said. "Things are generally trending in the right direction in training and there's a plan in place that involves me making the Olympics a year and a half from now. I need to stay positive and keep making sure things continue to trend in the right direction. I also have the 1,000 and the 1,500 coming up this weekend, and I predict better results in those."

Hudey posts personal best

On the women's side, Marsha Hudey won the first of the weekend's two 500 races.

The 26-year-old lowered her personal best by 25 hundredths of a second, thanks to a time of 37.54.

"I'm really happy to get a personal best this early on in the season," Hudey said. "Things have been going really well in training and I knew that if I could do the same thing in a race, it would likely turn into a good result. I am looking forward to the World Cups."

Hudey was the only skater to achieve the time standard of 38.66. Noémie Fiset (38.67) of Quebec City, Que., who was second in the race, missed it by only one hundredth of a second. Kaylin Irvine (38.72) of Calgary, Alta., skated to a third-place finish.

Heather McLean of Winnipeg, Man., who won three bronze medals in World Cup events last year, had to forfeit due to a viral sinusitis. She will be able, however, to ask for a bye request to earn a spot on the Canadian World Cup team.