Canada's Laurent Dubreuil collects another World Cup medal with 500m bronze in Utah
Fellow Canadian Isabelle Weidemann lands 4th in women's 3,000m
Laurent Dubreuil picked up where he left off on Friday, soaring to bronze in the men's 500 metres at the speed skating World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The 29-year-old Canadian, who already has one gold, two silvers and a bronze in the distance over two previous World Cup stops this season, added bronze with a personal-best time of 34.099 seconds despite a false start.
That left him just five one-hundredths back of gold medallist Yamato Matsui of Japan and one one-hundredth back of Japanese silver medallist Wataru Morishige.
The result for Dubreuil, the Levis, Que., native, further cements his status as an Olympic contender after breaking out with a gold medal at the 2021 world single distance championships. He's now landed on the podium at each of his last seven World Cup races.
WATCH | Dubreuil skates to 500m bronze:
"I never thought that in my career I would be this consistently on the podium. The only thing I can do is show up and do my best, but I'm at a point where technically I'm sound enough to do a good race every time," Dubreuil said.
"The margins are so close in the men's 500m that most races have been won by less than a tenth [of a second], so as soon as I have an average race, I'll probably find myself off the podium."
Dubreuil now leads the overall World Cup standings by 12 points.
The tour wraps its pre-Olympic schedule with a stop next weekend in Calgary.
Weidemann narrowly misses podium
Meanwhile, there was Canadian heartbreak in the women's 3,000m despite a trio of strong performances.
Isabelle Weidemann, who captured silver in the season-opening World Cup race in November, fell just off the podium with her time of 3:55.910.
Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won the race in 3:52.899. She just missed lowering the world mark of 3:52.02 set by Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic on the same ice in March 2019. Sablikova finished fifth Friday.
Weidemann, of Ottawa, is the national record-holder in the 5,000m.
WATCH | Day 1 of Salt Lake City World Cup:
Fellow Canadians Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais also raced in the 3,000m on Friday, each setting personal bests to secure top-10 finishes.
Blondin, the 31-year-old from Ottawa, crossed the finish line in 3:56.887 to place sixth while Maltais, the converted short-track skater from Saguenay, Que., clocked a time of 3:59.223 to slot 10th.
Bloemen world record falls
In the men's 5,000m, Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen placed eighth at 6:14.473. Bloemen, 35, took silver in the distance in Pyeongchang while collecting gold in the 10,000m.
Bloemen also saw his 5,000m world record, set in December 2017, fall in Utah, as Nils van der Poel of Sweden sped to gold with a time of 6:01.566.
Patrick Roest of the Netherlands took second in 6:04.415. Davide Ghiotto of Italy, who skated against Bloemen in the final pairing, finished third.
With files from The Associated Press
