On a day when Canada continued to beat a path to the medal podium at the ISU world long track speed skating championships, Prince George athlete Carolina Hiller posted another solid result in her world championship debut.
Hiller finished 12th as the top Canadian in the women’s 500-metre event Friday in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
The 26-year-old, who got her start in the sport racing for the Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club and now lives in Calgary, clocked 38.24 and was .96 of a second off the gold-medal pace set by Femke Kok of Netherlands, who won in 37.28.
Vanessa Herzog of Austria (37.33) won silver and Jutta Letterdam of Netherlands (37.54) captured bronze. Brooklyn McDougall of Calgary (38.56) was 16th.
Hiller’s started Thursday with a gold-medal performance in the team sprint with McDougall and Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa.
In the men’s 500m, Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., won silver, finishing in 34.46. He was .36 of a second behind American Jordan Stolz (34.10). Wataru Morishige of Japan won bronze.
In the women’s pursuit, Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann of Ottawa and Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., had their silver-medal finish upgraded to gold when the Dutch team that finished ahead of them was disqualified because one of their athletes had her ankle exposed. ISU rules require skaters to wear cut-proof socks that fully cover their skin.
Japan and the U.S. won silver and bronze respectively.
Canada’s men’s pursuit team (Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu of Sherbrooke, Que., Connor Howe of Canmore, Alt., and Hayden Mayeur of Toronto) won the silver medal with a time of 3:39.43. The Dutch team raced to gold, .17 ahead of the Canadians, and Norway took third.
The mass start and 1,000m events are scheduled for Saturday, followed on Sunday by 1,500m and 10,000m events.
