(Sportcom) – After a world title on Thursday, a silver medal on Friday and a top-8 on Saturday, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu wanted to simply seize the moment at the World Long Track Speed Skating Championships on Sunday in Heerenveen, the Netherlands.
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Mission accomplished for the Quebecer who finished seventh (+1.65s) in the 1500m with a beaming smile.
The 30-year-old skater showed great consistency over the entire distance. Starting in the seventh pair with the Japanese Taiyo Nonomura, Gélinas-Beaulieu then achieved the reference time of 1:45.24 min.
“It’s a great way to end my World Championship. It was more difficult for me in the 1500m at the beginning of the year, but everything has calmed down. I went full throttle and was able to stay on my skates. Finishing seventh at the World Championships is extraordinary and I’m very happy,” said Gélinas-Beaulieu.
DIDIER DEBUSSCISSORS/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
“Two team medals, two individual top 8 finishes, that really exceeds my goals. It’s been a very positive season for me, I’ve had success in international meetings, I’m happy to have finished it in style at the World Championships.
Six athletes ended up faster than the Quebecer, including American Jordan Stolz, who clinched a historic win. At 18, he became the first skater to win the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m events at the same edition of the World Championships.
“What Jordan did this weekend was phenomenal. We’ll probably never see that again. We have to go back to school this summer to understand what he’s doing to be so good,” said Gélinas-Beaulieu, laughing.
The Dutchmen Kjeld Nuis (+0.23 seconds) and Thomas Krol (+0.71 seconds) proudly joined them on the podium.
For women, Béatrice Lamarche took part in her third world championship. The Quebec athlete took the opportunity to set a world best time in the 1500m with a time of 1:58.49.
Photo archive, Agency QMI
“It was my first race this weekend, so the wait until today was long. I had a good plan with my coach, I wanted good technique and it worked. I’m super happy with my result, I couldn’t have done better,” admitted Lamarche.
The 12th place achieved on Sunday fully satisfied her, she who will have even greater ambitions in the years to come.
“I see that my progress is still ongoing. I’ve been consistent in 1500m all season and that confirms that I have my place here. I’m optimistic about the future, it’s exciting,” she added.
The gold medal and the world title went to Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong from the Netherlands. Norway’s Ragne Wiklund (+0.76 seconds) and Japan’s Miho Takagi (+0.85 seconds) won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Also note fourth place for Ontario’s Ivanie Blondin, who finished 0.32 seconds off a podium finish.
Finally, Valérie Maltais was back in action for the 5000m at the end of the day. Together with his teammate Isabelle Weidemann, the athlete from La Baie covered the distance in 7 min 7.25 s and finished eighth.
Dutch rider Irene Schouten wowed fans by winning the gold medal while beating the legendary Thialf’s course record. Norway’s Ragne Wiklund followed her in the overall standings (+4.90 seconds), while Czech Martina Sablikova (+6.53 seconds) completed the podium.