Laurent Dubreuil skates to a record-breaking gold in Calgary
Laurent Dubreuil‘s 500m reign continued in Calgary, where Team Canada captured three medals on the opening day of the ISU World Cup.
On Friday afternoon, the Canadian skated to his seventh consecutive 500m medal of the World Cup season, breaking two records in the process. He reached the top of the podium after clocking in a time of 33.778s to beat Jeremy Wotherpoon‘s national record dating back to 2007. His sprint to the finish line is also a speed skating track record as the fastest recorded 500m at the Calgary Olympic Oval.
Dubreuil was joined on the podium by China’s Tingyu Gao in second (33.876s) and Japan’s Yuma Murakami (33.898s).
Dubreuil has been a dominant force this season. Just last weekend in Salt Lake City, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympian skated to back-to-back bronzes. Currently his 2021-2022 season medal count stands at two golds, two silvers, and three bronze.
READ: Laurent Dubreuil skates to 500m bronze in Salt Lake City
Ted-Jan Bloemen also reached the podium on home ice, taking a bronze medal in the men’s 5000m with a time of 6:10.16. He stood on the podium with Sweden’s Nils van der Poel, who won the race in 6:04.29, and Italy’s David Ghiotto (6:09.34).
On the women’s side, Isabelle Weidemann skated a personal-best time of 3:55.344 to win a 3000m silver. Italian speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida finished the race in first with a time of 3:54.437, while the Czech’s Martina Sáblíková crossed the finish line at 3:55.500 for third.
All of the speed skating action will continue through Sunday as the ISU World Cup season wraps up ahead of Beijing 2022.
