Dubreuil joins Gaetan Boucher as only Quebecois skaters to reach the podium multiple times at the prestigious competition

INZELL, GERMANY – Laurent Dubreuil captured his second career medal at the ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships on Friday, bringing home bronze after two grueling days of racing in at the Max Aicher Arena in Inzell, Germany.

Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.) stood atop the leaderboard after Thursday’s first two races, earning a first-place finish in the 500m-1 (34.47) and sixth-place result in the 1000m-1 (1:08.31). He was equally as sharp in Friday’s 500m-2, finishing tied for second with a time of 34.47, but ran out of steam and settled for a 17th place result in the 1000m-2 (1:08.84) to conclude the competition.

The 31-year-old’s total combined samalog score of 137.515 put him +1.67 seconds behind Zhongyan Ning (136.680), who became the first Chinese skater to win the overall title at the event which has been running since 1970. Dutch youngster Jenning De Boo (+0.74), who was making his World Championships debut, earned silver behind Ning.

While not the gold medal he was aiming for, this season’s podium finish was redemption of sorts for Dubreuil, whose most recent experience at the event in 2022 was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Despite standing atop the standings after the first day of racing, the Olympic silver medalist from Beijing 2022 was forced to withdraw from the competition after testing positive for COVID-19.

In addition to today’s bronze medal, Dubreuil was crowned vice-champion at the event in 2020. With two career medals to his name, he joins Jeremy Wotherspoon (9), Gaétan Boucher (5) and Mike Ireland (4) as the only Canadian male skaters to reach the overall podium more than once in the event’s storied 54-year history.

Fellow Canadians Madison Pearman (Ponoka, Alta.) and Yankun Zhao (Calgary, Alta.) finished this week’s competition in Inzell ranked 21st and 23rd overall, respectively.

Four Canadians – Ivanie Blondin, Valérie Maltais, Abigail McCluskey and Jake Weidemann – will take place in the allround portion of the ISU World Sprint and Allround World Championships, which takes place Saturday (500m and 3000m/5000m) and Sunday (1500m and 5000m/10,000m). Races will be live streamed on CBC Sports digital platforms, with Olympian Anastasia Bucsis providing commentary.

Quotes

“I am satisfied with my bronze medal given how my legs were feeling going into this competition. I am also happy with the result considering how difficult the last three weeks have been. If you would have asked me after the World Championships in Calgary, I would have said that I was aiming to win it all. I was really skating well, but today I was far from being at my best. I just got sick one too many times this season. When I left home, I was no longer aiming for victory; I just wanted to give myself a chance to reach the podium. Yes, I was in first place after the first day, but Zhongyan Ning was right behind me. With the way he skated today, I would have had to been in the best shape of my life to challenge him for first. He was truly exceptional.”

Laurent Dubreuil

Results

Laurent Dubreuil
• Overall: 3rd
• 500m-1: 1st
• 500m-2: 2nd
• 1000m-1: 6th
1000m-2: 17th
Yankun Zhao
• Overall: 23rd
• 500m-1: 24th
• 500m-2: 19th
• 1000m-1: 22nd
1000m-2: 23rd
Maddison Pearman
• Overall: 21st
• 500m-1: 23rd
• 500m-2: 22nd
• 1000m-1: 20th
1000m-2: 15th