Canada's Courtney Sarault captures short track silver in Dresden
Moncton, N.B., speed skater captured 2 medals at recent Four Continents championship
Courtney Sarault of Moncton, N.B., continued her strong short track season on Saturday with a silver medal in the 1,000-metre A final at the ISU World Cup speed skating event in Dresden, Germany.
She posted a time of one minute 55.143 seconds to finish second to Ji-Yoo Kim of South Korea (1:54.955). Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands was third in 1:55.167.
Sarault, who extended her skate at the finish line to keep Schulting in third spot, has earned four medals on the World Cup circuit this season.
"Going into the final, I didn't feel amazing but I was trying to stay positive and hoping to come out of it with a podium," Sarault told Speed Skating Canada.
WATCH | Canada's Courtney Sarault reaches podium in Germany:
The race needed to be restarted after two skaters at the end of the pack, Lee Yu Bin of South Korea and Russia's Sofia Prosvirnova, fell and hit the wall midway through the race. They were penalized and the race was restarted with the three remaining finalists.
"Racing with only three skaters was something different for me," Sarault said, "and it was a really fast pace. I want to keep working at practice so when the speed does get that high for that long, I can have a better feel and a better result."
Boutin penalized in 1,500m A final
Last month, Sarault earned a couple of medals at the inaugural ISU Four Continents short-track championship in Montreal. The 19-year-old was second in the women's 1,000 and third in the 500.
Sarault was the lone Canadian to medal on Saturday as Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Que., was penalized in the women's 1,500 A final for obstructing an opponent, ending her string of podium results.
Boutin had medalled in each of her eight individual events over the first four World Cup stages before sitting out the ISU Four Continents short track championships in January to rest an injured knee.
"I did some things that I usually don't do," she said. "When on the outside pass [which led to the penalty] I came back in front of the Chinese skater a little too quickly instead of making a broader turn to avoid forcing her to slow down.
"If I had overtaken correctly, if I had attempted it at the right time, it would have been an interesting race."
Other Canadian results:
- Women's 1,500-metre B final: Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.) — 1st, 2:31.470
- Women's 1,000: Alyson Charles (Montreal) — 12th; Rikki Doak (Fredericton) — 17th
- Women's 1,500: Claudia Gagnon (La Baie, Que.) — 25th
- Men's 1,000 B final: Charles Hamelin (Sainte-Julie, Que.) — 2nd, 1:28.350
- Men's 1,500 B final: Pascal Dion, Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que. — 2nd, 2:28.819
- Men's 1,000: Jordan Pierre-Gilles (Sherbrooke, Que.) — 21st; Steven Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.) — 22nd
- Men's 1,500: Cédrik Blais (Chateauguay, Que.) — 17th