Italy claimed its first World Championships gold medal in Team Pursuit on Friday in Calgary, Canada @ISU
Exactly 18 years after Italy won the Team Pursuit title at the Olympic Winter Games Torino, Andrea Giovannini, Michele Malfatti and Davide Ghiotto (ITA) seized a historic first Team Pursuit World title for their country. The speed skating Squadra Azzurra left Norway and Canada behind in silver and bronze. Jordan Stolz (USA) opened his medal account at the ISU World Single Distance Championships with 500m gold in a track record time of 33.69 seconds.
Historic gold for Italy
Canada’s Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, Hayden Mayeur and Connor Howe were the first to set a mark in the men’s Team Pursuit on Friday. Skating on home ice, last year’s runner-up finished in 3:36.72 — a time which neither defending champions the Netherlands nor world record holders USA could match.
But in the last of four pairings, Italy and Norway (Sander Eitrem, Peder Kongshaug and Sverre Lunde Pederson) both beat Canada, pushing the home favorites into bronze. Italy finished in a track-record time of 3:35.00, while Norway secured silver in 3:36.07.
The Squadra Azzurra was confident going into their race, Giovannini said.
“We knew we could do a very good race, because we tried it out in practice a couple of days ago and we skated a really flat and good pace. After the first pair, we saw the times of the other teams, and we knew we could be a little bit better. Once into the race it felt really good. With a really flat pace on 26.0 seconds (lap times) we took it to the end.”
Ghiotto agreed.
“We always skate together. We know we are a good team and we believe in this race.”
Winning Italy’s first Team Pursuit World title was historic, but Giovanni didn’t realize how much so until after he spoke to coach Matteo Anesi, who was a member of Italy’s golden Olympic squad with Enrico Fabris and Ippolito Sanfratello.
“Just one minute ago, Matteo told me that at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy won the Team Pursuit on the exact same date. It’s incredible. Now, we are looking forward to the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano.”
Olympic Team Pursuit champion Pedersen was disappointed to end up in second place, but he had an explanation.
“We went for the gold, of course. We won some races this year, so it’s a bit of a disappointment, but it's a tough level. Italy did an amazing race, they were just the strongest team today.… There was nothing wrong with our race, but the build-up was not 100 per cent from our side. All three of us were sick from European Championships until now. I have been sick last week. I had to skip the 5000m yesterday, so I think maybe just the top shape of everybody is not quite there.”
For Canada, bronze felt as good as last year’s silver medal, Mayeur said.
“We haven't had a lot of training together this year. Unfortunately, I had to take the first half of the season to focus on my health and wellness, because I went into a little bit of a state of over-training. I had to focus on the second half of the season, so I missed out on the first two Team Pursuits of the year. We got a chance to get the team back together at the Four Continents Championships to shake the jitters off and now we're standing on the podium in third place at the World Championships again, so I'd say we’re pretty stoked, all things considered.”
Canada was in first place until the final Team Pursuit pairing, when they were bumped to third by Italy and Norway @ISU
Skating in front of a home crowd also gave them a little extra boost, Mayeur added.
“I've got my girlfriend in the stands and then there’s friends, my parents. I have folks that have been supporting me my entire career that got to watch this. Whether we were gold, third or fifth, it was pretty neat to get to skate in front of such a loud home crowd right here at our National Training Center.”
Having skated a world record in Salt Lake City just three weeks ago, USA’s Ethan Cepuran, Emery Lehman and Casey Dawson ended up fourth, 3.64 seconds behind Italy. Cepuran said:
“It’s obviously disappointing. We’ve been on the podium for every World Cup with different team variations as well. We felt like we could go out there and potentially win today.”
What happened?
“It’s just plain and simple, we’ve got to be better. Now we go back to the drawing board, look at what we were doing well in Salt Lake City that we needed to do now. They're hard talks to have, but they're necessary for us to continue to progress. The goal is to always continue to rise towards the 2026 Olympic Games.”
Stolz ‘best of this generation’
Stolz had three titles to defend at the World Championships and he ticked off the first on Friday.
Jordan Stolz receives his gold medal after winning the 500m title at the ISU World Single Distances Championships on Friday @ISU
He used last year’s runner-up Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) as an inspiration. Both skaters had the exact same opener in 9.45 seconds, and Stolz chased down Dubreuil on the back-stretch before going into the last inner corner full speed. For a moment, Stolz seemed to lose control, but he quickly recovered from a minor slip and passed Dubreuil to finish in 33.69 — just .08 seconds off the world record set by Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) in Salt Lake City in 2019.
“I actually really liked being paired with (Dubreuil). I feel like he really helps me on the opener, pushing me. I knew as I was right next to him, I figured it was a really good opener. And in my first turn, I felt like I had a lot of power to the back stretch, I just had to make sure to set up the second turn well. I was going so fast through that, I felt like I was kind of stepping right through. The turns are really hard to push through when you're at top speed here.”
Would Stolz have been able to break the world record had he not slipped in the last corner?
“It's hard to say. That means I'd be going faster and I feel the slip was a result from going so fast, so I have to figure how to hold that.”
Dubreuil finished .26 seconds behind Stolz in 33.95.
“It was a very good race, the best in my life. It was the best start I've ever had, 9.45 seconds, the last pair against the best skater of, at least, our generation. It's been two years in a row that I've won silver and he's won gold quite comfortably. Honestly, I don't mind that. We're in there for peak performance, and he's pushing the limits of the human body and his body is a bit better than my body clearly, but it helps me push myself. But let's be realistic, my years are running out faster than his, so we'll see. I'm just doing the best I can and I'm as happy with silver if I have a good race. It's the only thing I can do.”
Laurent Dubreuil claimed his second-straight World Championships silver medal in the 500m distance on Friday @ISU
Dubreuil enjoys the rivalry with Stolz.
“I respect him, and I hope he respects me half as much as I respect him. We're not enemies at all. Just the fact that we can consider it a rivalry means I'm a very, very good skater because he's on another planet.”
Whereas Stolz and Dubreuil managed to stay under 34 seconds, Damian Zurek (POL) was the best of the rest in 34.11 to take his first career World Championships medal.
“I worked for this for so long, so I’m very happy.”
Damian Zurek was happy to take 500m bronze on Friday, just two weeks after a crash at the final World Cup of the season @ISU
The 24-year-old sprinter recovered from a crash just two weeks ago at the final World Cup of the season in Quebec, but still managed to peak at the right time.
“The start was perfect. I had the best opener this season, it’s my best race of the season. Due to that crash in Quebec, I had to change my blades, but this is a happy end.”
Record-breaking sprints
The men’s Team Sprintto by
Program
Thursday 15 February:
3000m Women
5000m Men
Team Sprint Women
Team Sprint Men
Friday 16 February:
Team Pursuit Women
Team Pursuit Men
500m Women
500m Men
Saturday 17 February
1000m Women
1000m Men
Mass Start Women Final
Mass Start Men Final
Sunday 18 February
5000m Women
10000m Men
1500m Women
1500m Men
