Canada captures 3 gold medals at short track World Cup
Charles Hamelin, Kim Boutin, Marianne St-Gelais all win in Germany
Canadian skaters took home three gold medals and a bronze at the ISU World Cup short track speed skating event in Dresden, Germany.
Charles Hamelin and Kim Boutin won gold in the men's and women's 1,500-metre respectively, while Marianne St-Gelais took top spot on the podium in the 1,000. Valerie Maltais earned bronze in the 1,000.
Hamelin will have a shot at his fourth individual medal of the season in Sunday's 500 and he's looking to continue his success in eastern Germany.
"This is my third gold medal in my last three races here in Dresden. It's definitively a great destination for me," he said.
"By being in front for the major part of the race, I was able to stay away of the chaos behind me. When I started to accelerate for the last two laps, I didn't know I had such a lead on the second skater. It's great to see and to feel like that."
St-Gelais, the 2017 Canadian senior champion, now has a total of seven individual medals in five World Cup stages so far this season. She has another medal opportunity later this weekend in the 500.
"It was a good fight with [Dutch silver-medallist] Suzanne Schulting," St-Gelais said. "I wanted to be in a situation where she would be in front of me because I know she is good to do tracks and I don't want to be surprised in a couple of weeks at the world championships."
It was the first World Cup win for the 22-year-old Boutin, whose previous career best was a silver in Montreal in 2015.
"My coach and I worked a lot on new things. All race long, this is what I tried to do, including different strategies which made for a great last portion to the race," the Sherbrooke, Que. native said in a press release. "I wanted to be in the top four with six laps to go. To overtake one by one and to be in the first place at the end was the goal."
