As it turns out, this weekend was that time.
Fish, 22, won his first career World Cup medal Saturday with a third-place finish in the 10,000 metres at World Cup #3 in Nur-Sultan, Kazahkstan.
Fish – a former member of the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Speedskating Club who now competes for Team Canada out of the Calgary Oval – skated in the third pairing against Italy’s Davide Ghiotto and crossed the line in 13:04.255 to finish seven seconds ahead of Ghiotto, two seconds behind third place finisher Danila Semerikov of Russia and just under five seconds back of winner Patrick Roest of the Netherlands.
Roest finished in 12:59.442 and has swept the long distance events in the first three World Cups.
“My race today was good,” Fish said on speedskating.ca. “I skated consistent times throughout the laps, followed my plan and built up from there. I was a bit surprised that some of the other skaters didn’t beat me in the final pairs, but it worked out for the best!”
Consistent doesn’t begin to describe his lap times: from laps five to 11, his times never varied more than 31.3 seconds to 31.8 seconds on the 400-metre oval; laps 14 to 20 were even more impressive in that three laps crossed the line at exactly 30.7 seconds and three others at 30.6 seconds.
Graeme Fish of Canada performs in 10,000 metres in World Cup #3. Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke / International Skating UnionFish had previously skated the 10,000 metres only twice on the World Cup circuit, both times in the B group, and finished fourteenth and third. After today’s medal, the 22-year-old vaulted into fifth place in the long-distance World Cup rankings with 122 points, six back of Russia’s Denis Yuskov for fourth.
Fish is also the top Canadian in the World Cup long distance rankings, as 10,000 metres world record holder Ted-Jan Bloemen sits ninth with 99 after finishing seventh in Nur-Sultan.
Fish and Team Canada won’t be getting much of a break as they’re off to World Cup #4 beginning Thursday in Nagano, Japan.
