Long track speed skating | Laurent Dubreuil wins silver in the 500m at the Nagano World Cup

Dust broke out between the silver and bronze medalists in the first 500m of the season at the Long Track Speed ​​Skating World Cup on Friday. Three thousandths of a second, more precisely, took Laurent Dubreuil to second place, just ahead of the Japanese Tatsuya Shinhama.

American Jordan Stolz won gold by 0.15 seconds at the M-Wave, the Olympic oval in Nagano, Japan.

The reigning world champion had just recorded a time of 34.43 s when Dubreuil appeared on the starting line. The 32-year-old from Lévis took his place in the outside lane alongside the Dutchman Jenning De Boo, silver medalist in the world sprints last year.

“It was really a good pair for me,” Dubreuil told Sportcom. He is a rising skating star and is on a 10-year run to be among the best in the world. He's a guy who has a good burst of speed, probably the best after Stolz, but he doesn't have the best start. I was able to open faster than him and have a good target to go hunting afterwards. »

Dubreuil clocked an opening time of 9.63s, then maintained good speed into the second turn. He posted a time of 34.58 seconds after straightening his left leg at the finish. At first glance, it was the same time as Tatsuya Shinhama. This was before we focused on the next decimal which gave the advantage to Dubreuil.

“I had no idea if I beat Shinhama when I crossed the line. We were both second for a few moments, the time they adjusted to decide between us,” said the Quebecer, since the thousandths are not displayed on the scoreboard.

The last pair consisted of the Dutch Stefan Westenbroek and Marijn Scheperkamp, ​​eventually 7^e et 10^e of the competition. Dubreuil was confident that he would remain among the top three.

Second place earns him 54 points in the overall World Cup standings. Stolz leads with 60 points, while Tatsuya Shinhama is third with 48 points.

“Silver or bronze, you are a medalist in both cases and you do not have gold… But the six points that I have more than Shinhana today, that is perhaps what will make the difference at the end of the season. It can be a very important three thousandths! »

Jordan Stolz finished alone in the lead on Friday, but only 5 hundredths of a second separated second and fifth places. In the last six events contested over 500 meters, Laurent Dubreuil finished second behind the American on five occasions.

Returning to the World Cup after missing last season due to injury, Christopher Fiola took the 9^e ranked in group B with a time of 35.36 s. Still in the 500 m, Béatrice Lamarche obtained the same result in the women's group B. She covered the distance in 39.19 seconds.

Top 10 for Valérie Maltais

Valérie Maltais started this World Cup with the 1500m event in Nagano, where she finished 9^e rank. Her time of 1:57:26 placed her 2.24 seconds behind gold medalist Miho Takagi of Japan. The Chinese Mei Han (+0.16 seconds) and the Dutch Joy Beune (+0.56 seconds) completed the podium.

Like Fiola, Davie La Rue was injured last year and remained on the sidelines. He highlighted his return by delivering the 15^e men's 1500m time, 1 min 47 s.31 s (+3.66 seconds).

Freshly won a gold medal in the 500m, Jordan Stolz returned to the ice to score a second victory. The Wisconsin skater covered the distance in 1:43.65, lowering the track record by 1.07 seconds. The Norwegian Sander Eitrem (+0.94 seconds) and the Chinese Zhongyan Ning (+1.04 seconds) received silver and bronze behind the one who we are likely to see often again on the highest step of the podium this season.

Maltais and Béatrice Lamarche will compete in the 3000m on Saturday, while Laurent Dubreuil and David La Rue will compete in the 1000m.