#SpeedSkating

Graeme Fish (CAN) is having fun on the ice again, and that may well have been the recipe for his outstanding racing in Hachinohe City on Saturday. The former 10,000m World Record holder convincingly started his international Speed Skating campaign by taking a track record and gold in the 5000m at the ISU Four Continents Championships. Earlier Jordan Stolz (USA) took his second title of the weekend, leaving the rest of the field 0.21 seconds behind in the 500m.

Fish and Ichinohe enjoy tight battle

Graeme Fish (CAN) faced Seitaro Ichinohe (JPN) in the penultimate pairing of the longest distance of these Championships. When they got onto the ice, Riku Tsuchiya (JPN) had just moved to the top of the provisional scoreboard with a very flat race in a time of six minutes and 23.40 seconds. 

Fish and Ichinohe went out faster, pushing each other to the limit every time they swapped lanes at the back-stretch. 

Fish, coming off the back of a few tough seasons in which he struggled with the ramifications of a Covid-19 infection, managed to keep his lap times flat over the last three laps, whereas Ichinohe’s lap times increased by more than a second. Eventually Ichinohe not only lost the race, but with it his advantage over Tsuchiya, who ended up with silver after Ichinohe clocked 6:24.11 to take bronze.

With a time of 6:18.06, Fish shaved 0.70s off the track record set by Sigurd Henriksen (NOR) at the ISU Junior World Cup in 2024.

Pushed by pair-mate Seitaro Ichinohe (JPN), Graeme Fish (CAN) shaved 0.70s off the Hachinohe City track record to take 5000m gold © ISU

“Obviously I had a really, really good pair for the first 10 laps,” Fish explained.

“We were just racing each other. I just kind of had a little bit more left in the tank. And it went my way. It was a really good executed racing, I had a lot of fun.

“Whenever I go and race, I don't really think about the time. I just kind of go based on feel and it was there today. It was a good race, and hopefully we can continue to do that for the next two weekends.”

5000m silver and bronze both went to Japanese skaters, Riku Tsuchiya, left, winning his first individual ISU medal, with Ichinohe, right, settling for bronze © ISU

Tsuchiya was happy to win his first individual ISU Championships medal with a solid race. 

“What I really did well is keep my lap times flat throughout the race. I was aiming at 30.5 laps, but halfway through the race I even managed to go a little faster,” he said.

Ichinohe had enjoyed his battle with Fish, despite the fact that he couldn’t keep up in the end.

“[Fish] is strong, and he was skating ahead of me. I tried to keep my own pace, and at the same time I tried to chase him. I felt my speed going off although I still had the power. That’s something I have to work on,” he vowed.

In the final pairing, defending champion Casey Dawson (USA) attacked Fish’s leading time, only to break down with four laps to go. The American ended up fifth in 6:26.55.

Stolz doubles up in 500m

Before the men’s 5000m in the afternoon, Jordan Stolz (USA) had already collected his second gold medal of the weekend at the YS Arena, adding the 500m to the 1500m title won on Friday. The World Champion stopped the clock at 34.47s, just 0.04s off the track record set by Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) in 2021.

Shinhama himself seized bronze in 34.82s, while Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) grabbed silver in 34.68s, a fast time that surprised Stolz, as well as Dubreuil himself. 

An imperious Jordan Stolz (USA) added Four Continents 500m gold to his growing medal collection which includes Friday's 1500m title © ISU

Stolz commented: “I don't know how [Dubreuil] had been doing at the beginning of this year. I only saw one time of his at the [Canadian] trials. So this was kind of surprising, especially because he's a year older now and it seems like he is only getting better.”

Dubreuil also compared the 4C outing to his time in the Canadian National Championships. 

“For me [the time in Hachinohe] was quite good, because if you look at most Canadian skaters, we're all going a bit slower, or a lot slower, than at our Canadian championships in Quebec a few weeks ago, and I went a tenth faster. I didn't expect to go that fast,” he said.

Dubreuil realized that there’s still quite a gap to bridge if he wants to beat Stolz.

“It’s not super-close [to Stolz], but hopefully I can chip away at that two-tenths over the next few months. But still, 34.6 on a sea-level track is never going to be bad.”

Laurent Dubreuil (CAN), left, surprised both Stolz and himself to take silver ahead of a disappointed track record holder Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN) © ISU

Shinhama felt that he had left something on the ice at the YS Arena on Saturday. 

“I could have gone faster,” he admitted. “I was very close to my pair-mate [Yankun Zhao (CAN)] on the back stretch and that cost me time. At the National Championships in Japan I’m not used to such a tight change-up. I wanted to take advantage of the draft, but I got too close. I should have adjusted better.

“The way I felt today, I could have come a lot closer to Stolz, I would not have beaten him, but I could have come closer.

“Closing the gap to Jordan is going to be difficult. I have to work on my technique and that’s all up to myself.”

ISU Four Continents Championships Program

The ISU Four Continents tournament starts with the Team Sprint followed by the 1500m for both genders on Friday. The Saturday program features the 500m for both genders, the women’s 3000m and the men’s 5000m, and on Sunday both genders will compete in the Team Pursuit and 1000m before the Championships close off with the Mass Start. 

Schedule & Where to Watch:

• Friday, November 15 - 14:00-16:22: Team Sprint Women Team Sprint Men 1500m Women 1500m Men
• Saturday, November 16 - 14:00 -17:27: 500m Women  500m Men 3000m Women  5000m Men
• Sunday, November 17 - 14:00-17:15: Team Pursuit Women Team Pursuit Men  1000m Women  1000m Men  Mass Start Women Mass Start Men

Where to Watch

For schedules and results of the ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships, please visit the event’s webpage.