LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK – The Canadian speed skating party resumed after a little break on Tuesday, as Canada’s men captured the bronze medal in the team pursuit on Wednesday evening in Lake Placid at the FISU World University Games.
After warm weather and rain pushed the event back from it’s schedule morning time slot, the skaters hit the ice at 6:05pm ET, taking on warmer and foggier conditions than they had previously seen through the week.
Canada’s team of Joshua Telizyn, Hubert Marcotte and David La Rue skated to a time of 4:11.26, after starting in the third pair, barrelling through snowy conditions that many hadn’t ever faced in their speed skating careers.
“We have worked hard for this medal since we are not used to skating this event,” La Rue told U SPORTS. “We are more accustomed to shorter distances. We achieved a great race, and everyone did what each had to do. We gave our all and we even came close to win the gold! It was super fun to be on the podium with these guys!”
Ahead of the team pursuit, David La Rue earned the bronze medal in the 1000m before coming up just short and finishing fourth in the 1500m
“It just feels awesome,” Telizyn said. “Watching the women be successful in the 3000 meters, it was very inspiring. We knew we had to skate safe, and we had to prepare to suffer, and I think we executed that very well tonight.
For the Women’s side Canada’s Rose-Anne Grenier, Laura Ann Hall and Laurie Cayer were on pace for a medal for the majority of their run but stumbled and crashed into the side boards around two and a half minutes into their run. They finished with a time of 3:51.99 that left them in last place.
Earlier in the week Universite de Laval’s Grenier claimed a bronze medal in the 3000m, where she stood on the podium with teammate Hall of the University of Calgary, who claimed the gold medal in the distance for her first international win.
With the podium performance, the team pursuit squad pushed Canada to seven medals at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games, and added a second to Day 6 after uOttawa’s Shilo Rousseau captured silver in biathlon