Boisvert-Lacroix back on the podium in Calgary

The long track World cup #3 ended today in Calgary with the last distances on the program.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Schaats Foto’s

The skaters fighted on the 500m, 1500m and mass start to end the third World cup event of the season.

The quest for the junior world record

The young David La Rue from Canada established a new junior world record in the B group where he finished fourth. Later in the day, Norway’s Allan Dahl Johansson broke the record for the second time of the day with a time of 1:43.13 and finished 5th in the A group.

Boisvert-Lacroix back on the podium

The Canadian Alex Boisvert-Lacroix triumphed in an animated 500m! What a race for the skater from Sherbrooke, Qc who was back on the highest step of the podium on his favorite distance. Min Kyu Cha from Korea and Mika Poutala from Finland completed the podium. The ice was not resurfaced after the ladies’ 1500m and some falls and mishaps happened.

Nao Kodaira from Japan continued her 500m domination by winning this distance for the fifth time of the season. Sang-Hwa Lee from Korea and Arisa Go from Japan completed the podium. The Japanese were really impressive and placed four skaters in the top 10 of the distance.

Takagi too strong on 1500m

Miho Takagi from Japan won her third 1500m of the season with a time of 1:51.79. Marrit Leenstra from the Netherlands and Yekaterina Shikhova from Russia completed the podium. Lotte van Beek who was second overall finished with a surprisingly low 15th place.

Denis Yuskov from Russia took gold in the 1500m in front of Koen Verweij and Kjeld Nuis both from the Netherlands. Yuskov and Verweij both skated new national records on the distance. U.S.A.’s Joey Mantia, first on the overall ranking before this week’s race, finished fourth and is now in second place overall behind Yuskov.

Breakaways were the key in the mass start

A lot of surprises in the mass start event! In the ladies’ race, Claudia Pechstein, Elena Moeller Rigas and Nana Takagi got the advantage over the favorites with a strong breakaway. They were initially chasing Saskia Alusalu and continued the effort to reach the finish line ahead of the main group. Andrea Giovannini from Italy took a chance with a long breakaway that finally paid off as he almost lapped the whole pack on the men’s side. Reyon Kay and Hongli Wang completed this surprising podium.

You can read our day 1 recap HERE

You can read our day 2 recap HERE

The next World cup will be next weekend in Salt Lake City