Graeme Fish earned the first individual World Cup medal of his career on Saturday, skating to bronze in the longest distance contested at the ISU World Cup Speed Skating, the gruelling 10,000m. His time of 13:04.255 was less than five seconds off the fastest pace of the day at the Alau Ice Palace in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Capturing the gold medal on his birthday was Patrick Roest of the Netherlands, who has been victorious in all three long-distance events so far this season. Russian skater Danila Semerikov rounded out the podium in silver medal position.
Fish, a native of Moose Jaw, Sask., had previously skated the 10,000m only twice on the World Cup circuit, both times in the B group, and finished fourteenth and third. After today’s medal, the 22-year-old is vaulted into fifth place in the long-distance World Cup rankings.
“My race today was good. I skated consistent times throughout the laps, followed my plan and built up from there. I was a bit surprised that some of the other skaters didn’t beat me in the final pairs, but it worked out for the best!”
Fish’s teammate and current World Record holder in the distance, Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.) finished seventh on Saturday.
Other Results to Note
- Heather McLean (Winnipeg, Man.) and Marsha Hudey (White City, Sask.) were the lone other Canadians to finish in the top ten on Saturday, placing ninth (38.387) and tenth (38.425) in the ladies’ 500m, respectively.
The ISU World Cup Speed Skating concludes Sunday with the men’s and ladies’ 1500m and team pursuit events.
