Dubreuil picks up his 2nd speed skating silver medal over 500m at Poland World Cup
Canadian teammate Blondin earns women's team sprint silver and mass start bronze
A model of consistency of late, Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil collected his second silver medal in three days over 500 metres in Sunday's World Cup men's race in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.
Dubreuil, who clocked 34.70 seconds behind Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Koshkin (34.52), continues his strong form after becoming the first Canadian in nearly 20 years to reach the podium at Milwaukee's Pettit National Ice Center last month, where he took bronze in the 500m.
Marek Kania of Poland also reached the medal podium, finishing 6-100ths of a second behind Dubreuil, who has earned 41 medals on the international scene.
The Lévis, Que., skater reached the finish in 34.73 on Friday in a race won by American superstar Jordan Stolz in 34.49. Stolz has 130-point lead over Dubreuil in the season standings for the discipline, with the Canadian extending his hold on second place over Tatsuya Shinhama of Japan to 27 points.
"I was very happy with my start — 9.55 seconds with a false start is very good," Dubreuil told Speed Skating Canada. "After that, I had a good 200 metres but my second turn was not super good. But it was faster than [Saturday] and if it were not for the race of a lifetime for Koshkin, it may have been enough for gold."
Dubreuil now has six gold, 21 silver and 14 bronze medals since joining the World Cup circuit during the 2011-12 season.
WATCH | Dubreuil earns his 2nd World Cup silver medal of the week in Poland:
The speed skater was also won eight career medals (three gold, two silver, three bronze) at the world single-distance championships and has two medals from the world sprint championships.
"After the last Olympics, I challenged myself — I was at 24 medals at that point, and I wanted to shoot for 50," Dubreuil said earlier this week. "It seemed a bit ambitious back then, but I won seven the year after the Olympics, five last season and I'm at four this season. Winning 50 medals is now the goal."
Anders Johnson of Burnaby, B.C., was 18th of 20 finishers in 35.42.
Meanwhile, Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin earned a pair of medals Sunday.
The three-time Olympian partnered with Carolina Hiller (Prince George, B.C.) and Quebec City's Béatrice Lamarche for team sprint silver. Their time of one minute 28.30 seconds was narrowly shy of the Polish trio (1:28.09) and ahead of the Netherlands (1:28.46).
"We have been consistent all year. We have a good strategy and work well today," Blondin said. "The last two [races] were really good. It was a close one with Poland today and we should be proud of that.
"This gives us a lot of confidence going into world championships [in March]."
WATCH | Canadian women 0.21 seconds shy of team sprint victory in Poland:
Earlier, Blondin took women's mass start bronze in 8:20.79.
Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands was victorious in 8:20.34, 54-100ths ahead of Italy's Francesca Lollabrigida (8:20.88).
Valérie Maltais of Saguenay, Que., placed 15th in a field of 20 (8:21.67).
WATCH | Blondin captures bronze medal in women's mass start:
"I am happy to get on the podium, but definitely frustrating where the finish was. There was lots of drama in that race again," said Blondin, who claimed silver in the discipline at the 2022 Olympics.
"It was a fast race from start-to-finish, which I liked and that played to my advantage, but in the final sprint there were a couples of elbows that weren't to my advantage. It is what it is. I'm always learning every race and trying to get better for the next one."
Canada also won gold last month in Calgary and finishes the season ranked second overall in the distance behind Poland heading into the next team sprint at the world championships.
The Canadian team now travels to Heerenveen, Netherlands, for the final ISU World Cup event of the season next weekend. Races will be live streamed on CBC Sports digital platforms.
Other Canadian results
Women's 500 metres:
- Carolina Hiller, 14th
Men's 500
- Christopher Fiola, 4th
Men's mass start
- David La Rue, 8th
- Jake Weidemann, 15th
