After being held off the podium on Friday, Canadian speedskaters bounced back to pick up two silver medals in World Cup long track speedskating action on Saturday. Canada's Laurent Dubreuil competes during the 1000m Men event of the World Championships at Thialf ice arena Heerenveen, Netherlands, Saturday, March 4, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Peter Dejong
TOMASZÓW MAZOWIECKI, Poland – After being held off the podium on Friday, Canadian speedskaters bounced back to pick up two silver medals in World Cup long-track action on Saturday.
Laurent Dubreuil, of Levis, Que., finished second in the men’s 500 metres with a time of 34.77 seconds.
Olympic champion Gao Tingyu of China won gold in 34.70, while Wataru Morishige of Japan captured bronze in 34.82. Morishige also won bronze in the 500 at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The Canadian women’s team of Isabelle Weidemann, of Ottawa, Béatrice Lamarche, of Quebec City, and Ivanie Blondin, of Calgary, earned silver in the team pursuit in a time 3:03.24.
The Japanese trio of Momoka Horikawa, Miho Takagi and Ayano Sato finished nearly three seconds ahead to claim gold. Poland’s Natalia Jabrzyk, Karolina Bosiek and Magdalena Czyszczon won the bronze.
The World Cup continues Sunday with the men’s 5,000, a second men’s 500, women’s 1,000 and women’s mass start race.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2003.
