Moncton's Courtney Sarault narrowly misses Olympic finals in short-track race
Speed skater missed medal round in 1,500 metres by 0.01 seconds
Moncton speed skater Courtney Sarault's Olympic journey has ended without a medal.
The speed skater had a promising start to her day Wednesday, finishing first in her quarterfinal race in the 1,500-metre short-track competition.
But she came in fourth in her group in the semifinals with a time of 2:18:31
She missed out on the A finals by 0.01 seconds, leaving her out of medal contention.
Sarault did make it to the B finals, which does not offer medals, and placed fourth.
"I missed the A final by literally a toe," said Sarault.
"That was kind of a letdown for me, I was really going for it today."
Tough losses
This isn't the first time Sarault narrowly missed out on advancing at the Beijing Olympic Games.
She came in third in the 1,000-metre short-track quarterfinals after spending the bulk of the race in second place, missing out on the semifinals.
WATCH / Courtney Sarault's semifinal race in Beijing on Wednesday
As a member of the 3,000-metre short-track relay team she finished fourth in the finals.
"Honestly, I'm really proud of myself because if I look back on two days ago, mentally and physically, I wasn't in the best shape just because I feel like I've faced a lot of disappointments," said Sarault.
"It wasn't the Olympics that I thought I was going to be. So the fact that I just got on the line today and had a good attitude, I'm really proud of myself for that."
Sarault is the only New Brunswick athlete competing in Beijing.
Cheering from home
While COVID restrictions limited the people who could attend the games in person, Sarault had quite a cheering section back home in New Brunswick.
Rhonda Sarault, Courtney's mom, said the family had TVs, laptops and cellphones running to witness her races.
"I'm just hoping that she has a good time," Rhonda said.
"Go to the closing ceremonies and have some fun."