Laurent Dubreuil, author of his second-best career time, reached the podium for the third consecutive time at the World Long Track Speed Skating Championships in the 500m race in Calgary on Friday.
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Dubreuil, gold medalist in the Heerenveen bubble in 2021, won silver for the second year in a row in front of his father with a time of 33.95 s. This is only the second time in his career that he has stayed under 34 seconds.
The only problem: American sensation Jordan Stolz did even better and successfully defended his world title. The 19-year-old skater set a personal best of 33.69 seconds, surpassing the course record of 33.77 seconds set by Dubreuil on December 12, 2021.
Dubreuil and Stolz faced each other with an identical start time of 9.45 s. This first 100m is the fastest of Dubreuil's career, 0.01 seconds faster than his personal best.
The American narrowly missed the world record. The 33.61 s brand, founded on March 9, 2019 in Salt Lake City, belongs to the Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov.
One of the best races of all time
“It is my best race of my life after the 1000m at the Beijing Olympics and my victory at the 2021 World Championships,” said Dubreuil. Considering the stakes and the magnitude of the moment, when I found myself in the final pair with the best runner of the hour, it was as good a race as when I set my personal best of 33.77s.
“It was quite a challenge competing against Stolz and staying focused and sticking to my plan despite his excellent start,” Dubreuil continued. Due to the high air pressure, the ice was not as fast as in 2021, when four skaters skated under 34 seconds.
Dubreuil considers this silver medal a victory.
“Second behind Stoltz, the best skater of the last 40 years, that’s tantamount to a win. I crushed the rest of the board. There were three levels. Proud, me and the others. It's not normal for him to be so good and manage a start time of 9.45s while winning the 1500m. This is inexplicable and makes no sense. I’m more explosive, but I can’t do 1500m.”
goal achieved
The 1000m silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics has just had a lot of pressure lifted off her shoulders.
“My season is over,” he said. The goal was to win a medal at the World Distance Championships and it was achieved. I also came second in the overall World Cup. After my most difficult start to the season in the last four years, I have ended my season.”
Shortly after his bronze medal in the team pursuit, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu took part in the summit duel between the two fastest runners in the world.
“You might think that pride is playing a different sport because it is so fluid. It’s inspiring to see him, but I’m really proud of Laurent for succeeding.”