After more than two months on the road, where the speed skater was crowned world champion in the 500m and Olympic vice-champion, Laurent Dubreuil will face new tasks: spending quality time with his family. and “recharge your batteries.”
Lévisien landed Thursday at Jean-Lesage International Airport in Quebec City after a family vacation in Spain. He has not set foot in Quebec since leaving for the Beijing Olympics in January.
With the contingent of supporters that welcomed Dubreuil and his daughter Rose, who left her seat in the stroller for the big World Championship trophy, we see Laurent’s parents, two Olympic athletes as well.
However, it was not the athlete they missed, but their son. Limited to Internet communications, a small statement Rose and her father were thrilled to find grandparents Robert Dubreuil and Ariane Loignon.
The nomad confirmed to The Canadian Press, in a telephone interview, that he would immediately deal with the lost time.
It will be good. We will finally have a family dinner at my house tonight, he said. After two months and a week of Skype, it’s not the same to see them at last.
The plan thereafter could not be simpler.
If I can’t do anything? Exactly, nothing to dolaunched Dubreuil.
If he emphasizes physical and mental rest, it is because he had a historical and emotional period.
One of the favorites for the 500m at the Games, the athlete only finished on the podium at his preferred distance. A week later, he rebounded by winning a silver medal in the 1000m and, in the process, he won his first Olympic medal.
He added nine World Cup medals to his neck in the 2021-2022 season and notably led the combined season in the 500m. However, COVID-19 will soon destroy the 29-year-old skater’s chance of finishing 1st for the first time in his career.
Locked in his hotel room in Norway for a week, the Canadian boarded a plane on Saturday morning to head to the Netherlands and skate in the afternoon. The points he earned in the weekend races were enough to keep him at the top of the standings.
To be crowned, again, will be world champion next season enjoyable according to Dubreuil. But it won’t stop there.
The most beautiful is just coming. I think I can do even better next year, he said. My goal is to improve each season.
One day, this progress will stop, but this year I am better than last year. Last season, I was better than two years ago, so why not another year to get better again?
After this well-deserved rest, he will find his trainer Gregor Jelonek and his physical trainer Jonathan Pelletier-Ouellet and walk on the ice again. With new targets, the skater will want to be faster than before.
Source: Radio-Canada