By Mat LaBranche
In his last opportunity of the season, Cumberland’s Vincent De Haitre joined in on the party podium fellow Gloucester Concordes mates Ivanie Blondin and Isabelle Weidemann started in a breakthrough season for all three Ottawa speed skaters.
De Haitre captured bronze in the 1,000 metres at the March 21-22 ISU World Cup Final in Germany, earning the first senior international medal of his career and becoming first Canadian to stand on the podium with Sochi 2014 double-Olympic medallist Denny Morrison – the event champion – since legend Jeremy Wotherspoon in 2008.
“I really wasn’t expecting much,” recalls De Haitre. “But I hoped for the best and just tried to do everything I’ve been working on all year, and I managed to make it work when it counted the most.”
It was a season of highs and lows for the 20-year-old, beginning with a peak when he bested Morrison at the Fall World Cup trials.
“Looking back, other than the World Cup medal, this was my proudest moment (of the year), because I could officially call myself the Canadian champion in the 1,000m,” reflects De Haitre, who also holds the title of Canadian track cycling 1,000 m champion.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games participant and Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games hopeful continued his blazing ways on the ice with a 4th-place finish at the first World Cup in Japan, but then dipped to 19th, 15th and 13th in his next races.
“I got really nervous and stressed over my performances,” De Haitre recounts. “That built-up stress over more events, on top of a back injury, were not conducive to good performances.”
The 2014 Ottawa Sports Awards male athlete of the year had to miss the Feb. 1 World Cup in Norway due to his back ailment and began to experience a severe migraine and an increased heart rate prior to the Feb. 12-15 World Single Distance Championships in the Netherlands.
“I managed to pull it together coming into world singles,” notes De Haitre. “Despite dealing with those issues, and I still managed to finish 12th, which was within range of what we deemed acceptable.”
In addition to extensive physiotherapy treatment, De Haître attributes his comeback effort to coach Bart Schouten pushing him and improved training.
“When things are going well in training, it’s easy to be motivated, and when things are going bad, it’s hard,” he explains. “But things started going well and it really gave me the motivation to finish the season strong, and make me excited to start the next one.”
Looking ahead to the next speed skating campaign, De Haitre has one thing on his mind.
“More medals,” smiles the Sochi Olympian who was the youngest Canadian on the team by four years. “Once you get the taste of it, you don’t want to let it go. And I think by winning a medal in the last competition of the season, it really sets the stage for next season and what I expect of myself.”
Blondin World Cup series champ
Blondin missed the mass start World Cup podium for the first time this season in Germany, although it was somewhat by design. Winner of 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze 2014-15 World Cup medals (including one in the 5,000 m), Blondin wanted to ensure she finished ahead of the Dutch skater who was second place in the season’s mass start standings, which became a much easier task when her competitor wiped out midway through.
“I would have preferred to have a real competition with Irene Schouten, but it didn’t happen because of her fall, which happened right in front of me,” Blondin, who also finished the season ranked 6th in the world out of all distances and won a mass start World Championships silver medal, said in a Speed Skating Canada media release. “After that, I told myself that I just needed to stay on my skates and not take any chances. I was going for the season title and I did it. I even was part of the last sprint at the end. I’m quite happy about the result. This title is a big deal for me.”
Weidemann sets Canadian jr. record
Coming off ankle surgery last summer, Weidemann capped her campaign that featured a Junior World Cup Final bronze medal and Junior World Championships 4th-place finish by setting a new Canadian junior women’s 5,000 m record at March’s Canada Cup #4 event in Calgary. Skating in front of her parents and Concordes coach Mike Rivet, the 19-year-old established a new national benchmark of 7 minutes, 14.55 seconds.
“It was super awesome and a nice way to end the season,” Weidemann, who also made her senior World Cup debut in 2015, said via Speed Skating Canada. “It was a goal my coach had been eyeing in October, but I didn’t have very many opportunities to skate a 5000 m this year.”