Fish wins bronze at speedskating World Cup #5

It might be in the middle of the current Winter Olympics cycle, but if things keep going the way they have this season for Moose Jaw’s Graeme Fish, local speedskating fans could have a medal contender to cheer for at the 2022 Games in Beijing.

Fish, 23, continued his stunning ascent on the international scene with a third-place finish in the 5,000 metres at the International Skating Union World Cup #5 on his home track in Calgary this past weekend.

It marked the second medal of the World Cup season for Fish – the first came in the 10,000 metres during World Cup #3 in Kazakhstan in December – and his first international ducat in the 5,000 metres.

“It was a good race,” Fish said on speedskating.ca. “It was the first time this season that I left it all on the ice in the 5000m. I think the start could have been just a bit faster, there was one lap that was slower, but all-in-all it was a really good race. It’s my first ever medal in the 5000-m and it’s nice to see.”

Fish crossed the line in a time of 6:10.583, finishing 3.17 seconds back of winner Patrick Roest of the Netherlands and 3.15 seconds back of second-place finisher and Canadian teammate Ted-Jan Bloeman, the world record holder in the distance (6:01.86).

His consistency throughout the race was once again remarkable – the ‘one lap that was slower’ came in his fifth trip around the track, a 29.5 second loop. Other than that, his times were literally within two-10ths of a second the rest of the race, ranging from 29.1 to 29.3 on nine of 13 laps.

Fished ended up taking five seconds off his previous personal best in the process.

Fish continues to sit in fourth place in the World Cup Long Distances standings, with his 198 points now only one back of Russia’s Alexander Rumyantev. Danila Semerikov sits second with 237 points; Roest has won every distance race he’s entered this season and leads with 240 points, having missed World Cup #4.

Next up will be the aforementioned Single Distance championships in Salt Lake City, Utah this coming weekend, where Fish will skate the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. CBC will have live streaming coverage of the races from Thursday to Sunday, with television coverage also airing on Sunday, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. as part of their ‘Road to the Olympic Games’ program.