Donnelly’s young legs give Canada a boost
Junior skater helps mates claim bronze at world championships
The legal drinking age in Russia is 18, so Ben Donnelly would have no problem buying vodka or champagne to celebrate his bronze medal in the team pursuit at the world single distance championships.
But the 19-year-old long-track speedskater was dreaming of a treat of a different kind Friday under the Golden Arches in Kolomna, Russia.
“There’s a McDonald’s across from the hotel,” he said wistfully. “We might go over there. We have pasta and rice every day for breakfast, which is really interesting. So this might be a nice change.”
A Quarter Pounder is not normally a staple diet item for a worldclass athlete, but Speed Skating Canada would likely give Donnelly a pass given his meteoric rise this season.
The Oshawa, Ont. teen is still technically a junior. Back in November, the coaching staff threw him into the team pursuit purely to gain experience at the World Cup season opener in Calgary. Filling in for the injured Denny Morrison, Donnelly combined with Ted-Jan Bloemen, of Calgary, and Jordan Belchos, of Toronto, to win a surprise gold.
On Friday, the teenager teamed up with Bloemen and Belchos again, this time winning bronze at the world single distance championships. The Canadians skated the eight-lap event in three minutes, 43.28 seconds — just one hundredth of a second ahead of the fourth-place Italians.
The Netherlands won gold in 3:40.04. Norway took silver in 3:41.26.
“It’s just really exciting and really humbling to see all these amazing skaters here — all these people you look up to,” Donnelly said. “You want to train more to one day be at that level.”
Once considered a long-term project for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, Donnelly is showing promise for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“His maturity for a junior is incredible,” said coach Bart Schouten, adding Donnelly will still compete in next month’s world junior speedskating championships in China.
On the senior side, with Morrison sidelined for the season, Bloemen is Canada’s leader in the team pursuit. And after missing two months from a nasty skate cut to the leg, the transplanted Dutchman was not expected to shine at these world championships. But the 29-year- old won Canada’s firstever world championship medal in the 10,000 metres on Thursday (a silver), and followed that up with team pursuit bronze. He could collect a third medal Saturday in the men’s 5,000 metres.
“To be honest, I’m angry at myself,” Bloemen said. “I want to show my best races at the world championships, and these were not my best races. I want to show my best work. I don’t want to settle for a second or third place while there’s more in the tank. “
Bloemen is not willing to use time missed due to injury as an excuse.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’m happy about winning medals. Good races just don’t come easy this weekend.” Also Friday: Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann finished fifth in the women’s 5,000 metres and Vincent De Haitre, of Cumberland, Ont., placed sixth in the men’s 1,500 metres.
Kaillie Humphries and Melissa Lotholz are sitting in second place after the first two runs in the women’s event at the world bobsled championships in Ingls, Austria. The Canada-1 sled is 0.31 seconds back of Germany’s Anja Schneiderheinze and just .02 seconds ahead of American Elana Meyers Taylor. The final two runs are scheduled for Saturday.