Canada's Laurent Dubreuil and Japan's Tatsuya Shinhama compete in the men's speed skating 500m event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 12, 2022.SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images
Canada’s world-champion speed skater Laurent Dubreuil narrowly missed the podium on Saturday at the Beijing Olympics in his specialty race.
The 29-year-old sprinter from Lévis, Que., is in the midst of a fantastic season, leading the World Cup circuit in the 500-metre long-track event. But he won’t be able to add an Olympic medal in that event at these Games. Instead, the day belonged to China’s Gao Tingyu.
Skating in front of a small and physically distanced – yet very enthusiastic – home crowd inside Beijing’s Ice Ribbon, the Chinese skater won gold in an Olympic-record time of 34.32 seconds. It was a time Dubreil says he could have matched or beat. But it wasn’t his day.
South Korea’s Min Kyu Cha earned silver (34.39) and Wataru Morishige of Japan took bronze (34.49).
The athletes blazed 500 metres around a 400-metre oval track, racing in pairs at speeds of up to 50 kilometres an hour, clinking their blades and swinging their arms.
It’s an unforgiving event at the Olympic Games. Each participant gets just one race to go for all the marbles. Every skater must live with that one time they register.
Despite the COVID-19 restrictions in place, it sounded like a full stadium when the Chinese skater set a new Olympic mark, and that time set the tone for the rest of the competition, with half of the competitors still to race.
Gold medallist China's Gao Tingyu celebrates after winning the men's speed skating 500m event during the Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 12, 2022.SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images
“The two 34.3s were pretty fast,” Dubreuil said. “My career my best is a 34.31 – [on a] different track – but you know it’s not something I thought was unbeatable.”
The Canadian skated in the last of 15 pairs, pitted against Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama.
Dubreuil seemed the favourite for gold. He’s the reigning world champion in the men’s 500 metres and tops the World Cup standings in that distance. Dubreuil had reached the podium in all eight of his international races so far this season, winning two of them. He had also skated the fastest time in the world this season.
A false start on Saturday got their pairing off to an awkward start. Then he finished his race in 34.522 seconds. Not far off the leader, but not enough for a medal.
“It was a good race. It just wasn’t good enough,” Dubreuil said. “Fourth in the world is nothing to be ashamed of.”
No Canadian man has won an Olympic medal in the 500 metres since the 1998 Nagano Games, when Jeremy Wotherspoon and Kevin Overland took silver and bronze, respectively.
Dubreuil said his attention has already shifted to the 1,000-metre race in Beijing, and he’s already said he’s keen for another Olympics four years from now. He comes from an Olympic bloodline, as the son of two short-track skaters who competed at the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, Robert Dubreuil and Ariane Loignon.
It was a boost from his 18th-place finish at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Much has changed for Dubreuil since – a jump in success plus becoming a father in 2019 to daughter Rose. There were hard times, too, like months away from training, where he stayed in shape sliding on a board in his garage.
Canada's Laurent Dubreuil reacts after skating in the men's 500-metre speed skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on Feb. 12, 2022.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
After the race, he said the disappointment was fading as he spoke. He mustered smiles. He looked ahead to his next race at the Games. Maybe that’s where his medal will materialize.
“I think I’ve got an outside shot at the podium,” he said. “Not as good as the chance I had today, but it’s not impossible to be there in six days.
There were two other Canadians in this event as well. Gilmore Junio finished in a tie for 21st spot, while Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu placed 29th out of 30 skaters.
Canada’s top-ranked team pursuit trio of Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais placed second in their quarter-final Saturday, advancing to the semi-finals in a time of 2 minutes 53.97 seconds.
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