Blondin, Dubreuil win national single distance speed skating titles

Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa and Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., each took home the national title in their respective 1,000-metre disciplines at the 2018 Canadian single distance speed skating championships on Monday.

Blondin, a two-time Olympian, won the women's 1,000 with a time of one minute 15.98 seconds in her first race of the competition, surpassing the World Cup qualifying standard of 1:16.18.

Blondin is already pre-qualified for the World Cup in the women's 3,000 based on her results from last season.

Kaylin Irvine of Calgary finished second in 1:16.49, narrowly defeating third place finisher Beatrice Lamarche of Quebec City at 1:16.52. Both just missed out on meeting the World Cup qualifying time.

Dubreuil, a member of the 2018 Olympic team, won the men's 1,000 in 1:08.48, edging out Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu of Sherbrooke, Que. (1:08.69). Both Dubreuil and Gelinas-Beaulieu posted times fast enough to meet the World Cup qualifying standard of 1:09.11.

It was the second win of the competition for Dubreuil, who captured the men's 500 title earlier in the week in 34.64, which also met the World Cup qualifying standard.

David La Rue of Saint-Lambert, Que., placed third in 1:09.18, just off the required pace.