Denny Morrison and Vincent de Haître finished the 2014-15 campaign in the 1000m by grabbing both Gold and Bronze in the last race of the season.
This allowed them to grab it at the ISU Long Track Speed Skating World Cup Final held event held in Erfurt, Germany.
Fort St. John’s Morrison won it in a time of 1:09.07 and came up with his second best time at the international level this season.
After skating a time of 1:08.72 at the World Single Distance Championships, to which he then earned a fourth place, plus Morrison also won Silver in the 1000m at the 2014 Olympic Games.
De Haître, for his part, collected his first career World Cup medal, after finishing fourth in that distance in the first World Cup stage held this season, in Obihiro, Japan. This is his first season on the World Cup circuit.
Morrison told the media “I couldn’t be happier to stand on the podium with my teammate Vincent De Haitre and he’s the first teammate I’ve stood on a World Cup podium with since Jeremy Wotherspoon!”
He shared the same podium than the 2008 Olympic silver medalist in the 500m event twice during World Cups in the 2007-2008 season in the 1000m event.
De Haître’s time of 1:09.47, Saturday, is a personal best in the 1000m at the international level.
Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands finished second (1:09.42) in Saturday’s 1000m race to end up second in final standings in that distance. Russia’s Pavel Kulizhnikov, who was fourth Saturday, finished first in the annual standings. Germany’s Nico Ihle was third.
Following his win which allowed him to collect 150 points, Morrison moved up from ninth to fifth place in the 2014-15 World Cup season men’s 1000m final standings, with a total of 321 points. De Haître ended up in ninth place.
Dubreuil finishes 4th – clinches Second place
Laurent Dubreuil of Lévis, QC, clinched second place in final World Cup standings in the men’s 500m by finishing fourth in that distance, Saturday, in the first of two races slated for the weekend.
This is the first time since 2007-2008 that a male Canadian skater will finish that high in men’s 500m final standings.
That season, Jeremy Wotherspoon was first overall in that distance. Jamie Gregg was fifth in 2012-2013.
Dubreuil skated to a time of 35.26 seconds in Saturday’s 500m, 55 hundredths of a second behind the skater he was paired with, and also the leader in 500m overall standings, Pavel Kulizhnikov, who won the race in 34.71.
Dubreuil was a hundredth of a second away from Gerben Jorritsma of the Netherlands, who was third with a time of 35.25. Michel Mulder, also from the Netherlands, was second (34.94).
Kulizhnikov’s win alllowed him to clinch first place in 500m final standings, as he added 150 points to the 780 he already had this season, for a total of 930 points.
Dubreuil, whose fourth place earned him 90 points, Saturday, will conclude the season in second place. He now has 651 points with another race to go, Sunday.
Third-place skater Tae-Bum Mo of South Korea (495 points) did not take part in Saturday’s race. E
ven a win in Sunday’s second 500m race by Poland’s Artur Was, presently fourth in the standings, would not be enough to catch up to Dubreuil. Was has 490 points.
For the World Cup Final, points awarded have been increased for the first five positions.
The winner of each race receives 150 points, while 120 points are awarded for second place, 105 points for third, 90 points for fourth and 75 for fifth. A win at a regular World Cup stage is worth 100 points.
Special “thanks” to Speed Skating Canada for the info and for more visit: http://www.speedskating.ca/
For info on Speed Skating in British Columbia visit http://www.speed-skating.bc.ca/
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