Canadian pace skaters Ivanie Blondin and Laurent Dubreuil claimed silver medals on Sunday on the remaining cease of the lengthy monitor World Cup tour in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
The 32-year-old Dubreuil secured second place within the males’s 500-metre standings with a time of 34.51 seconds within the season’s remaining race, simply 0.05 behind Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Koshkin .
Dubreuil edged Dutch favorite Jenning de Boo by 0.01 seconds.
WATCH l Dubreuil takes silver in 500m:
“It was an excellent race and I am actually completely satisfied. I’d have beloved to win gold, and I used to be fairly shut, solely 0.05 seconds off,” Dubreuil mentioned in a press launch. “I’m beginning to really feel a little bit of fatigue from a full season of racing. I did not open as shortly as I may or as shortly as I did in earlier weeks, however I am nonetheless skating very nicely
“I used to be completely satisfied to have the ability to have an excellent lap and choose up some good pace, even when my legs have been a bit much less explosive than final week.”
Dubreuil, who hails from Lévis, Que., finishes the season with 476 factors within the distance. He gained a pair of silvers final week in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.
American star Jordan Stolz topped the standings with 568 factors.
“”Ending second within the general rankings is nice. And successful six 500m medals in a single season, regardless of coping with an damage within the fall, makes this one in all my greatest seasons,” Dubreuil mentioned.
The 2-time Olympian has gained 42 profession World Cup medals (6 gold, 22 silver, 14 bronze), together with a silver medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympics and 10 world championship medals.
Ottawa’s Blondin, 34, ended her World Cup marketing campaign on a excessive word, incomes a second-place end behind two-time mass begin world champion Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands.
Groenewoud’s time of 8:27.52 was a mere 0.02 seconds quicker than Blondin’s within the 16-lap race at Heerenveen’s Thialf oval.
Blondin made a brave transfer on the within nook heading into the ultimate lap, catapulting her into the lead. She appeared destined for her first mass begin victory of the season till Groenewould turned it up down the stretch, edging the three-time Olympian on the line.
Mia Manganello of america captured the bronze medal with a time of 8:27.62.
WATCH l Blondin claims mass begin silver:
“I really feel fairly good in regards to the mass begin,” Blondin mentioned. “I picked a decent line popping out of the final nook and sort of fiddled my approach by way of. Marijke simply had extra pace coming from the outer lane. It was a extremely tight end, however thrilling that approach. I used to be actually proud of my efficiency.”
It was Blondin’s third mass begin medal of the season after successful bronze final week in Poland and a silver earlier this 12 months in Nagano, Japan.
Blondin, the top-ranked Canadian within the occasion, positioned fourth within the standings with 223 factors
Groenewoud completed in high spot with 340 factors, 93 greater than the second-ranked Manganello.
Blondin and teammate Anders Johnson of Burnaby, B.C., later completed fifth within the blended relay.
Canada’s lengthy trackers will subsequent compete on the world single-distances championships in Hamar, Norway, from March 13-16.
Watch dwell protection of the world championships on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. A dwell streaming schedule is out there .