Canadian men's short track relay team wins gold in Japan
Pascal Dion also wins men's 1,000-metre bronze at World Cup event in Nagoya
The Canadian men's short track relay team will bring home gold after winning the 5,000-metre final at the World Cup event in Nagoya, Japan, on Sunday.
Pascal Dion, Charles Hamelin, Steven Dubois, and Jordan Pierre-Gilles raced to a time of six minutes, 52.272 seconds, just ahead of the Chinese (6:52.285) and Hungarian (6:52.386) teams, who took silver and bronze, respectively.
"Honestly, we could not have hoped for a better race," Pierre-Gilles said in a media release. "Winning the gold medal is an incredible feeling and is a great end to our trip in Asia. We are all excited for what comes next, but we'll start by celebrating a bit and appreciating this win."
Dion also added a bronze in the men's 1,000-metre final, his second medal in the distance in as many races, this World Cup season.
WATCH | Canadian men capture 5,000-metre relay gold:
The Montreal native finished the race in 1:26.554, behind the Netherlands' Itzhak de Laat, who claimed silver in 1:26.533. China's Ren Ziwei took gold in 1:26.297.
"I think that if everything is aligned I am capable of producing good races and I proved that over the past two weekends," Dion said in a media release. "At the international level, I have never been very confident in individual races, but now I've seen what I am capable of. I worked on my weak points over the past two years and that is showing."
WATCH | Dion adds a bronze medal in the 1,000:
Canadian women's skaters were held off the podium in Nagoya this weekend. Courtney Sarault and Kim Boutin finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 1,000 final on Sunday.
"It was a difficult weekend for me, but I think it was a big upgrade compared to last week in Beijing," Boutin said. "I made two 'A' finals, which proves that I am capable of skating among the top five in the world.
"I am slowly getting better and better and finding my form again."
