Tatsuya Shinhama is one of the few people standing in Laurent Dubreuil’s way these days on the ice.
The Japanese speed skater defeated his Canadian opponent to the finish line for a second consecutive Sunday, this time in the men’s 500-metre event in long track action in Stavanger, Norway.
Shinhama posted a winning time of 34.578 seconds, followed by silver medalist Dubreuil in 34.610, while Artem Arefyev of Russia in 34.671.
“It’s really fun to win a medal again, in what is probably the best sequence in my career,” Dubreuil stated. “The 500 is so close each time; I won each of my medals by less than a tenth of a second so I don’t have room for error. To see that I am able to put forth four very consistent races, at such a high level, is very encouraging.”
Shinhama (34.699) edged Dubreuil (34.734) in the distance a week ago in Poland.
“Shinhama is my biggest rival and we challenge one another a lot, Dubreuil said. “To be in the last pair with him helped us both to perform at our best. Skating against the best athletes in the world motivates me and brings out my top performance.”
On Saturday, it was Dubreuil of Lévis, Que., standing atop the podium following his triumph in the first 500 competition over Arefyev.
Canada collected five medals over the weekend. Ivanie Blondin, Maddison Pearman and Alexa Scott finished second in women’s team sprint behind Poland on Saturday while Ted-Jan Bloemen earned bronze in the men’s 10,000. Isabelle Weidemann opened the event with a silver medal in the women’s 5,000 on Friday.
