Trio of Canadians place top-10 at speed skating World Cup
McLean, Dubreuil, Gélinas-Beaulieu all enjoy successful days in Poland
Three Canadians placed top-10 in their respective distances at the speed skating World Cup in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland, on Saturday.
"I have spent this season slowly, but surely, rebuilding my approach to training and racing," said McLean. "I am very proud of today's 500m and looking forward to more racing this season."
Laurent Dubreuil of Lévis, Que., posted an identical time as Friday's result, skating the 500 in 35.344 seconds to earn ninth place.
Watch full highlights from Saturday in Poland:
"It was an okay race for me," said Dubreuil. "I was just missing a little something on my start. With a little more speed off the start my turns would be better and I would have more momentum. I think I can reach the podium if I just speed up my start.
"I'll try to correct a few technical elements for next weekend, but it's going to be more of a physical battle moving forward to win a medal between now and the World Championships."
Personal best for Gélinas-Beaulieu
Finally, Sherbrooke, Que.,'s Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu posted a personal best in the men's 1,500, clocking in at one minute, 48.919 seconds. That meant an eighth-place finish, which surpassed his two previous World Cup results of the season, 12th place in Obihiro and 15th place in Tomakomai. Teammate David La Rue of Saint-Lambert, Que. was disqualified from the same distance for wearing an incorrect armband.
Russia's Denis Yuskov won the event by nearly one second, with Japan's Seitaro Ichinohe and Korea's Min Seok Kim in second and third.
"An eighth-place finish is a personal best for me," said Gélinas-Beaulieu. "My race went very well. I had a bit of a slip and my blade picked the ice during the first turn, so my start wasn't the best, but I was able to regain some speed and maintain it until the end of the race."
Canadians also fared very well in Division B races on Saturday, with four athletes earning top-3 results that will vault them into the top Division A grouping at next weekend's World Cup in the Netherlands.
The competition wraps up on Sunday with the finals for the ladies 5,000, men's 10,000 and team sprint events. CBC Sports will be live streaming the races beginning at 8 a.m. ET.