First World Cup medal for Dutton
SPEEDSKATING: Canadian who considered retirement claims silver in 500 metres
CALGARY — William Dutton’s game plan for retirement from speedskating involved a career in carpentry — specifically, building backyard ponds — while simultaneously saving lives and protecting property as a firefighter.
Those pursuits will have to wait, given the early returns from Dutton’s decision this summer to delay retirement and give speedskating one more try.
The 25-year-old won the first World Cup medal of his career, a bronze in the 500 metres Friday, and topped that Sunday with a silver, also in the 500 metres, at Calgary’s Olympic Oval.
His previous best performance was seventh at the 2014 World Sprint Championships.
“To better that twice after considering retiring is pretty amazing,” said Dutton, who was accepted into the firefighting program at Lakeland College before having a change of heart.
“I had no expectations coming into this weekend. I knew I could skate well, but to do this well is really blowing me away.”
The entire Canadian men’s sprint team blew the competition away Sunday — with the exception of Pavel Kulizhnikov, the Russian who broke Jeremy Wotherspoon’s world record in a blazing time of 34 seconds.
Dutton crossed the finish line in 34.25 seconds — a personal best — to claim silver. Alex Boisvert-Lacroix, of Sherbrooke, Que., and Gilmore Junio, of Calgary, tied for third place in 34.30. The bronze medal went to Boisvert-Lacroix when the judges broke down the video to the thousandths of a second.
“It’s an amazing race,” the 28-yearold said of his first World Cup podium in long track (he won bronze in short track in 2007.) “I knew I could go fast and I had my best start ever.”
Competing in front of his home crowd, initially thinking he had just won a medal, Junio looked dejected as he walked off the ice to the dressing room. But the 25-year-old saw the sunny side of things just a few minutes later.
“It’s my second-fastest race ever, and I can’t be too disappointed about it. We had two Canadians on the podium, so that’s definitely a satisfying result for our whole team.”
On a personal note, Junio — best known for giving his Sochi Olympic spot in the 1,000-metre race to Denny Morrison — showed he’s back after a disappointing season in 2014-15, when he failed to even flirt with the podium.
“This year is about redemption and rebuilding,” Junio said. “This is a good first step.”
A good first step is the way Ivanie Blondin summed up her first mass start of the season. The Ottawa native entered the race as the favourite as the defending World Cup overall champion in the new Olympic discipline. She won bronze in what looks like the NASCAR of longtrack speedskating, behind BoReum Kim of South Korea and Irene Schouten of the Netherlands.
“I was really nervous for this race,” Blondin said. “Knowing you’re going to be the target in the race, that just puts a little more pressure on your shoulders, right?
“It’s good to have the first one over and done, and prove that I belong on the podium once again. I can be more confident for the next one.”
The World Cup circuit moves to Salt Lake City next week before heading to Europe.
“I had no expectations … this weekend. I knew I could skate well, but to do this well is really blowing me away.” — William Dutton