Laurent Dubreuil wins the Canadian title in the 500 meters event

QUEBEC CITY — Laurent Dubreuil won the Canadian title in the men’s 500 meter long track speed skating event on Thursday.

The Quebecer, who holds the Canadian record (33.77 seconds), crossed the finish line in a time of 34.379 seconds to take the gold medal. Dubreuil was accompanied on the podium by Cédrick Brunet (35.500) and Christopher Fiola (35.541).

Aged 30, Dubreuil won the silver medal in the 1000m at the Beijing Olympics in February. A few days earlier, he had missed the podium in the 500m by just three hundredths of a second.

Dubreuil became the first Canadian to be crowned world champion in the 500m since 2008 when he won gold in 2021.

In the women’s 3000m event, Isabelle Weidemann won the gold medal with a time of 4:00.206. She finished ahead of Ivanie Blondin (4:06.133) and Valérie Maltais (4:07.369). The trio won the gold medal together in the team pursuit at the Beijing Games.

Weidemann also won bronze in the 3000m and silver in the 5000m at the Olympics.

Alberta’s Ted-Jan Bloemen won the Canadian title in the men’s 5,000m event, posting a time of 6:16.161. Jordan Belchos (6:23.778) and Graeme Fish (6:24.934) captured the silver and bronze respectively.

Carolina Hiller recorded her first national title by triumphing in the 500m event. She stopped the clock at 38.420 seconds. Brooklyn McDougall (38.599) and Blondin (38.953) also won a medal in this discipline.