Long track speed skating | Laurent Dubroil won another medal in the 500 meters

(Calgary) Laurent Dubroil woke up Sunday morning in Calgary with concrete-like thighs.

Simon Droin
Press

But he still has two missions to go before he can allow a final break directly before the final for the Beijing Olympics.

The first was to continue his series of podiums in the 500 meters at the World Cup. Then, secure your position within 1000 meters for games.

He was hot – and so bad! – But the long track speed skater scored two goals in this final day’s competition on the Olympic Oval ice.

In the 500 meters, Dubroil won the bronze medal this fall to finish eighth in a row in four World Cups.

“It’s so exciting, I’m not betting on it,” Kubeker admitted, his record five for podiums in one season in 2014-2015. He had reached this total in six competitions by then.

The plateau is also strong. That’s not to say the guys aren’t moving forward. It is stronger than ever in history.

Laurent Dubroil

His thrilling time of 33.77 seconds put him second in all-time, while Dubroil finished 34.06, the third time in his life. Russian Viktor Mushtakov won his first gold of the season with his personal best of 33.90. Yuma Murakami of Japan won bronze with 33.99.

“Today is physical, I felt worse than yesterday, he analyzed. My ham strings seemed too tight, I do not know why. ”

“I can not explain it”

The last couple paired up with Russian Arafive, who said the Canadian was upset by the delay of a few minutes to repair a hole in his lane. A slight decrease in body temperature and the gentle breeze created by previous skaters, cost him a few hundredths of what he was expected to be a world champion.

“If it’s not really a big hole, I would love for them to leave it like that and bring us out in time.” […] It wasn’t perfect, but at least I was able to respond well. ”

The captain in the World Cup standings agreed that luck might be in his favor as well. Silver medalist Tingyu Gao of China on Friday withdrew for unknown reasons on Sunday. With the same weather, he hadn’t done better than the fifth two days earlier.

“I was able to win eight medals in eight races, I can not explain it. I could not target it [avant le début de la saison]. The margin of error is very good, there is little luck in that. Sometimes you have a good race and you finish fourth. ”

With both The 29-year-old athlete, who won gold, two silver and four bronze medals, finished first in the campaign standings. With 420 points, he easily edged out Japanese wataru Morishige (351) and Tatsuya Shinhama (346).

After the podium ceremony, the Dubroil 1000 has less than an hour and a half to restart for you. Frankly, he was not so enthusiastic about starting this heart-wrenching distance for this pure sprinter. “It’s not tempting me anymore, I would do without it!” […] But I can cringe, I’m a professional. ”

He finished fifth in the World Cup standings, having to finish in the top eight if he was to qualify for the Beijing Games this far.

True to his habit, he played extremely fast in the 600 meters, but he faltered in the final lap, pushing him to eighth. In the end, he dropped only one step into the season’s accumulation, which guaranteed him to skate at this event at the Beijing Games.

In all likelihood, he will not be in line for Quebec picks in two weeks.

“I can really focus on my preparation without having to be good in two weeks. It’s ideal, even if none of my 1000m this year is super, I’m very satisfied with it. This is enough to achieve my goal over this distance. ”

Jongyan Ning won the gold in 1: 06.65, the first time for the Chinese in this event. Young American Justin Stoltz, 17, continued his unbeaten run by winning silver in 1 minute 06.96. Russian Mushtaq completed the podium, his second in the day. Sixth, Connor Howe is the best Canadian.

Dubroil (1m 07.33), a medalist in the 1000m at the last two worlds, hopes to compete in Beijing in two months, especially six days after the 500m.

“Everything can happen. The gaps are not wide. Although the best Dutchmen are not there, I’m three-tenths of a medal. It’s very legitimate to think of reducing it.

Dubreuil will rest with his family next week before restarting the machine. “You can win a medal at the Olympics, that’s the ultimate goal,” he recalled. Train box Gregor Zelonek earlier this week. In terms of results and preparation, it looks great. But the focus is on the month of February. There is still a lot of work to be done. We cannot be fully satisfied as long as the goal is achieved. ”