HAMMAR, Norway – Quebec’s Laurent Dubereuil was forced to withdraw from the world championships in long track speed skating on Friday after testing positive for COVID-19.

In a brief statement, Dubrowy admitted his “enormous disappointment” and said he had continued to follow all possible distancing measures, but had simply not been so lucky.

Doberuil learned the news only a few hours before the start of the second day of competitions.

According to the information provided by his spokesperson, Dubreuil had three tests on Friday morning, two PCR tests and a “CT value test”.

However, the CT values ​​appeared to be too low for the IPU physicians to allow him to ski.

Dubreuil finished first in the standings after opening day after first in the 500m in 34.58sec and third in the 1000m in 1:08.85 on Thursday.

It was Dubreuil’s first trip since winning the silver medal in the 1000m last month at the Beijing Olympics.

In sprint events, champions are determined after two 500-meter and two 1000-meter races. Dubreuil was scheduled to race his second 500 and 1000 race on Friday.