It has been a bit of a struggle thus far this season for Humboldt’s William Dutton but Dutton’s season is beginning to turn around.
Dutton recently captured the Canadian National Single Distance Championships 500m Canadian title in Calgary on Jan. 5.
Dutton kicked off the competition with a bang as he took home the fastest time of day one finishing with a time of 34.58, setting a new season best.
“That was my best race of the season and my sixth fastest time ever,” said Dutton in a Speed Skating Canada press release.
After a great season last year and the slow start this year Dutton said it was very important for him to turn his season around.
“I’m coming off a bad start to the season, so I had a bit of passion to do well today. It was important for me to do well.”
The past couple of months have been tough on Dutton off the ice as well, with his grandmother falling ill in October.
“I took that to heart because I was very close to her. As World Cups went on this fall, she got more and more ill. I decided to pull out of the last World Cup to go see her. She passed away a couple weeks after I saw her.”
He said his blistering race on day one was dedicated to her.
Dutton returned to the ice on day two and continued his strong form from day one as he once again set the fastest time as he finished with a time of 34.63, which was good enough to capture the Canadian title.
“It’s my first time being Canadian champion and that was one of my goals for this season. It’s a pretty cool feeling,” he said.
The win also qualified Dutton for the World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships held in Gangneung, South Korea, which runs Feb. 9-12.
“Competing there in a new building will be important and it will be cool to see since they have been putting a lot of hard work into that facility. It will be inspirational and motivational to compete there prior to the Olympics.”
