Graeme Fish leads Canada's medal charge in Four Continents speedskating

<p>Graeme Fish led Canada's speedskating team to a four-medal day at the Four Continents championship Saturday with a victory in the men's 5,000 metres. Fish skates in the men's 10000-metre event at the ISU World Speed Skating Championships in Calgary, Alta., Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</p>

November 16, 2024 - 9:28 AM

HACHINOHE, Japan - Graeme Fish led Canada's speedskating team to a four-medal day at the Four Continents championship Saturday with a victory in the men's 5,000 metres.

Fish, from Moose Jaw, Sask., posted a winning time of six minutes and 18.06 seconds.

Laurent Dubreuil of Levi, Que. was second in the men's 500 metres.

Ottawa's Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin finished second and third respectively in the women's 3,000.

Fish, 27, was the world champion in the 10,000 metres and took bronze in the 5k in 2020.

He says the title gives him confidence for the upcoming weekends.

"It proves that I've been doing the right things in the off-season. I'm starting to feel like I did back in 2020," he said.

"There's still a lot of stuff I need to keep working on, so I'm going to do my best to keep getting better every day on the ice so that I can back to that level."

His Canadian teammate Ted-Jan Bloemen finished fourth behind Japan's Riku Tsuchiya 5.34 seconds back of Fish, with Seitaro Ichinohe just over six seconds behind.

American star Jordan Stolz, who collected his second win in as many days after taking the men's 1,500, won the 500 in 34.47 seconds ahead of Dubreuil's 34.68.

The 32-year-old Dubreuil, an Olympic silver medallist in the 1,000 in 2022, continues to chase the 20-year-old Stolz in the sprints.

"I am happy with my time and execution," Dubreuil said. "We’ve been in Asia for less than a week now, so to skate a 34.6 — faster that what I skated at the start of the season in Quebec City on an ice that is clearly slower — is pretty good."

Japan’s Momoka Horikawa took the women's 3k ahead just over a second faster than Canadians Weidemann and Blondin. Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que. was fourth.

"This was my first race of the year, so I don't think I can read into it too much, but I hope it's an indication of how things will go this season," said Weidemann, an Olympic bronze medallist in the distance in 2022.

"I feel stronger and ready to race again, which is something that I didn’t really feel last year."

The Four Continents concludes Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2024.