Laurent Dubreuil comes in 8th at World Sprint Championships
Laurent Dubreuil improved on last year's finish, ending the weekend eighth in overall standings at the ISU Long Track Speed Skating World Sprint Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The Lévis, Que. native skated to a 11th-place finish in the men's 1000 metre on Sunday, to end up 2.27 points away from Russia's Pavel Kulizhnikov, who was crowned World Sprint Champion after finishing first in three of the weekend's four races.
Dubreuil was ninth overall last year at the World Sprint Championships held in Nagano, Japan, as his best result that year was fourth place in the 500 metre. This year, he was third in Saturday's 500, thus earning his best career result in that distance at the World Sprint Championships.
“My rank overall is not as good as what I aimed for, which was a spot among the top-5,” the 22-year-old skater said.
“In fact, I was one good race away from reaching my objective. My 500 metre was simply horrible today and in spite of another solid skate in the 1000 metre, I wasn't in it anymore. It's a bit disappointing, but I will learn from this and come back stronger next year. At the world level, it's important to have consistency.”
Canada's Gilmore Junio was 19th in overall standings, 3.69 points away from Kulizhnikov, while Jamie Gregg was 20th, 4.20 points back.
On the women's side, Jessica Gregg, Marsha Hudey and Heather McLean respectively finished 19th, 20th and 23rd overall.
Next weekend, the ISU World Allround Championships will take place in Calgary, Alta. The 2014-15 long track speed skating season will then conclude with the World Cup Finals, in Erfurt, Germany, March 21-22.
