Graeme Fish is on top of the world, having captured a gold medal in the 10,000m at the ISU World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in Salt Lake City. In the process, he set a new World Record with a time of 12:33.868, besting teammate Ted-Jan Bloemen’s mark from 2015. Bloemen earned a medal of his own in the distance – a silver – while the ladies Team Pursuit skated to bronze.
Fish, a 22-year-old native of Moose Jaw, Sask. who is only in his second full year on the international circuit, skated flat lap times – hovering between 29.5 and 30.3 seconds – throughout his 25 tours around the oval. The blistering pace put his time almost two and a half seconds under the existing World Record and twelve seconds faster than his previous personal best. Fish also makes his mark on history as the first non-Dutch skater to be crowned 10,000m World Champion.
Bloemen (Calgary, Alta.) skated in the final pair of the 10,000m against Dutch long-distance specialist Patrick Roest and held on to finish second with a time of 12:45.010, ahead of Patrick Beckert of Germany.
Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valérie Maltais set a new Canadian Record of 2:53.628 in the ladies Team Pursuit, finishing only behind the teams from Japan and the Netherlands to capture the bronze medal. The Japanese women set a new World Record with their golden time of 2:50.766.
It is the first career ISU World Single Distance Championships medal for both Weidemann and Maltais, and Blondin’s first in the Team Pursuit. Their time breaks the Canadian Record mark set in 2009 by Christine Nesbitt, Kristina Groves and Brittany Schussler.
Laurent Dubreuil (Lévis, Que.) earned the highest result in the 500m for the Canadian team, placing sixth with a time of 34.123. Gilmore Junio (Calgary, Alta.) and Alex Boisvert-Lacroix (Sherbrooke, Que.) finished 11th and 17th respectively in the men’s event, while Heather McLean (Winnipeg, Man.) and Marsha Hudey (White City, Sask.) skated to 14th and 20th place rankings.