Laurent Dubreuil wins 500m bronze medal in long track speed skating
Laurent Dubreuil has won the bronze medal in long track speed skating’s men’s 500m event at Milano Cortina 2026.
Skating in the 10th pairing, Dubreuil broke the Olympic record with his time of 34.26 seconds, shaving 0.06 off the mark set four years ago.
He then had to sit and wait and watch five more pairings. In the third last pairing, Jordan Stolz of the United States and Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands both beat Dubreuil’s time, clocking 33.77 and 33.88, respectively. At 21 years old, Stolz is a phenom in the sport, sweeping the gold medals in the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m at both the 2023 and 2024 ISU World Single Distances Championships. He topped the ISU World Cup standings this season in the 500m. Dutchman de Boo is just 22 years old.
In contrast, at 33 years old, Dubreuil was the oldest competitor in the men’s 500m field. But no one could push the Canadian off the podium in the next two pairings, with Poland’s Damian Zurek coming the closest, finishing 0.09 behind him.
It’s Dubreuil’s second career Olympic medal, having won silver in the men’s 1000m at Beijing 2022. That came on the heels of some heartbreaking disappointment in the 500m, in which he finished fourth and missed the podium by just 0.03.
Dubreuil has been Canada’s top sprinter for the last decade. He’s a four-time world championship medallist in the 500m, which includes a world title in 2021.
This is Canada’s sixth Olympic medal all time in the men’s 500m, but first since Nagano 1998 when Jeremy Wotherspoon and Kevin Crockett shared the podium after winning silver and bronze, respectively.
