Canada's Laurent Dubreuil misses 500m podium for 1st time this season at Olympics

Canadian speed skater Laurent Dubreuil missed the 500-metre podium for the first time all season on Saturday at the Beijing Olympics.

China's Gao Tingyu broke the Olympic record to win in 34.32 seconds and become his country's first male speed skater to score Olympic gold. Korean Cha Min Kyu took silver at 34.39 and Japan's Wataru Morishige snagged bronze at 34.49.

Dubreuil, the Levis, Que., native who'd earned a medal in all eight previous World Cup races, placed fourth with a time of 34.522 seconds.

"I won't lie, I'm absolutely disappointed. I came here to win a medal and to be only three hundredths off the podium, it's a tough day for me at the office," he told CBC Sports' Anastasia Bucsis after the race.

"Right now it's disappointment, but still fourth in the world is still good. We give three medals. I did my best and it just wasn't enough today."

WATCH | Dubreuil places 4th in men's 500m:

Skating in the final pairing, the Canadian was charged with a false start on the first attempt to start the race. If he'd done it again, he would have been disqualified.

And while the second attempt for the 29-year-old, competing in his second Olympics, was clean, his starting 100-metre time of 9.63 seconds left him well off the pace set by Gao.

He said — as he'd repeated leading into the Games — that he was happy despite the outcome.

"I was happy in life yesterday and I didn't have an Olympic medal so the situation for me is the same. My family for sure is who I'm thinking about right now," Dubreuil said. "I know I'm happy in life but still it's not an excuse to not do good."

Dubreuil will get another shot to win his first Olympic medal when he skates in the 1,000m on Friday at 3:30 a.m. ET.

"Right now it's tough to think about the 1,000 when you know you're just three hundredths off the podium in one event. It's tough to turn around but I still have six days to do it so I think it's gonna be OK," Dubreuil said.

Gilmore Junio, the 31-year-old from Calgary in his third Olympics, placed 21st, winning his heat in a photo finish at 35.162 seconds. Olympic rookie Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu, 29, of Sherbrooke, Que., finished 29th of 30 skaters in 35.84 seconds.

Women's team pursuit squad into semis

Earlier, Canada's women's team pursuit squad featuring two-time medallist at these Games Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais eased into the semifinals.

WATCH | Canadians advance in team pursuit:

"I think we're going to go home and rewatch the race and come back stronger for the next one," Weidemann said.

The trio won each of its last three World Cup races of the season, but hadn't raced in team pursuit since December.

The other semifinal pits Japan, which set an Olympic record of 2:53.61 in the quarters, against the Russian Olympic Committee (2:57.66).

WATCH | Full replay of team pursuit quarters, men's 500m event: