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 #SpeedSkating

"It's a day I'll remember for a very long time," Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) said after he won the 500m on the first day of the ISU Four Continents Championships on Friday. The world champion and Olympic silver medalist lives in Quebec and the first international tournament at the Centre de Glaces provided him with an opportunity to have his grandparents watch him from the tribune.

Together with David La Rue and Christopher Fiola, Dubreuil went on to win the Team Pursuit as well, while Vitaliy Chshigolev (KAZ) took the 5000m title.

Confidence key on family day for Dubreuil

Skating on home ice brought some extra pressure for Dubreuil, especially because the 500m was one of the most competitive events on the first day.

Laurent Dubreuil CAN

Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) overcame a competitive 500m field to triumph in front of his family on home ice. @ ISU

“I was more excited than nervous. I was probably the favorite in the 500m, but the field was very strong, like Yuma Murakami (JPN) and Jin-Su Kim (KOR) and Min Kyu Cha (KOR), who won two medals in the Olympics. It was really a deep field and I had to show up,” he explained.

And show up, he did. Dubreuil stopped the clock at 34.46s, leaving his friend Murakami 0.42s adrift in second place. Kim took bronze in 34.97s, just 0.03s ahead of Cha.

Confidence was key for Dubreuil:

“I felt very much in control, like I was the master of my own technique. My race was good. The opener was solid and then the lap… I'm skating the fastest laps I've ever skated in my life right now. My start is not necessarily the best it's ever been, but the lap definitely is. I'm at the top of my game.”

Dubreuil has won many World Cup races, the 500m World title and Olympic silver in the 1000m, but the Four Continents medal gets a special place in the trophy cabinet.

“I wouldn't trade it for a World Cup gold medal, because of the circumstances, skating on home ice and all. I'd rank it [a Four Continents Title] the same as a World Cup probably, obviously less than World Championship and Olympics, but because it's here, because it's the first time here, I really wanted to perform.

“I had never skated in front of my brother and sister. My wife had come to see me skate in Europe a couple of times and my daughter as well, but it's much nicer here. My parents and grandparents were here as well. It's going to be a day I'll remember for a very long time.”

Cat and mouse in the 5000m

Vitaliy Chshigolev (KAZ) and Jordan Belchos (CAN) played a cat and mouse game in the 5000m. Before they took the ice in the final pairing, Lee Seung-Hoon (KOR) had stopped the clock at 6 minutes and 23.36s in the fourth pairing.

Both Chshigolev and Belchos set slower split times than Lee until halfway through the race, when the Kazak 2020 Four Continents champion and the home favorite pushed each other to go deeper and deeper.

Vitaliy Chshigolev KAZ

Vitaliy Chshigolev (KAZ) and home skater Jordan Belchos brought the best out of each other in the 5000m. @ ISU

Belchos said: “I kept thinking, I'm going to turn it on here on this inner [corner], and I'm going to skate away from him. But he kept coming back, and I tried doing it again, and he kept coming back. And in the end, he flipped it on me a little bit. Credit to him, he skated a great race.

“It's great that it was such a tight race. It probably gave a little bit of a good show."

Chshigolev eventually finished in 6:22.81 to take gold, while Belchos had to settle for bronze behind Lee in 6:24.11.

“I had higher expectations to be honest,” Belchos said. “Looking at what the performances were of the people that were in the race, I probably expected to win. But that's sport.

“Those guys have been not far off me in the in the World Cup so far, I really respect what they did.”

Jordan Belchos CAN

Jordan Belchos (CAN) was disappointed with bronze in the 5000m but is enjoying the positive atmosphere in Quebec. @ ISU

Although he had hoped for more than bronze, the Four Continents Medal still felt like a bonus for Belchos after he put his retirement plans on hold.

“I thought I was going to retire at the end of the year. My fiancée [Valérie Maltais, CAN)] and I decided to move to Quebec and start the next part of our lives," the 33-year-old Canadian explained.

"I was going to be finishing my degree to start a career outside speed skating, but I kept training with the group and I thought maybe I'll just try to help the younger guys along. But then… I love biking here, I love skating here, and I love the group, so I just kind of kept going.”

“The kind of the results I've had this year, although I took so much time away from the sport, I feel like a lot of that is coming from just the positive atmosphere here.”

Canada win Team Sprint

Canada concluded the day winning the Team Sprint. Dubreuil, La Rue and Fiola set a time of 1 minute and 20.59s to keep Korea and the United States at bay.

Jun-Ho Kim, Tae-Yun Kim and Seung-Hyueon Park (KOR) took silver in 1:21.25, and Tanner Worley, Zach Stoppelmoor, Conor McDermott-Mostowy (USA) finished in 1:21.28 to seize bronze.

 

Schedule 

Friday December 2nd, 2022:       500m (Men and Women), 3000m (Women), 5000m (Men), Team Sprint (Men and Women)

Saturday December 3rd, 2022:  1500m (Men and Women), Mass Start (Men and Women)

Sunday December 4th, 2022:     1000m (Men and Women), Team Pursuit (Men and Women) 

 

Where to Watch

Viewers will be able to watch the races via their national broadcasters’ channel. For countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel. You will find the full list on the Where to Watch webpage.

Subscribe to the ISU Newsletter to receive the latest information about events, and to the Skating ISU YouTube Channel to receive notifications when live streams start or new videos are published.

 

For further information on ISU Speed Skating visit https://www.isu.org/speed-skating