Jess Neufeld and Jake Weidemann earned the first international medals of their speed skating careers on Saturday, capturing silver and bronze in the men’s 1500m at the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships.
“It feels great to win my first international medal. This is just another stepping stone on the path to the World Cups and hopefully one day the Olympic Games. It’s a huge confidence boost and makes me very excited for the rest of the season!”
– Jake Weidemann
Neufeld’s time of 1:45.990 put the Winnipeg native second only to Korea’s Min Seok Kim. Weidemann (Ottawa, Ont.) rounded out the podium after crossing the line in 1:46.498, ahead of teammate David La Rue (Saint-Lambert, Que.) who ended up in fourth position.
“It’s a dream come true for me to be on the podium. It was an honour for me just to be a part of this competition, so this was the best outcome that I could have had. It was super cool to be on the podium with my teammate and good friend Jake [Weidemann], so, all in all, I’m very happy!”
In the ladies 1500m, Alexa Scott (Clandeboye, Man.) narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing fourth with a time of 1:58.474. The competition serves as excellent training for Scott, who will compete at the World Junior Championships next month.
CBC Sports will live stream the conclusion of the ISU Four Continents Championships on Sunday, with the 1000m and Team Pursuit events kicking off at 2:00 pm ET.