St-Gelais, Cournoyer get back-to-back gold at Canadian championships
Speedskaters claim 2nd national titles in as many days
Marianne St-Gelais and Charle Cournoyer earned their second national speed skating titles in as many days at the 2017 Canadian senior championships as they each came out on top in the 500-metre events on Saturday.
St-Gelais of Saint-Felicien, Que., won her eighth Canadian title in three years.
She was followed by Jamie Macdonald of Fort St. James, B.C., who overtook Kim Boutin from Sherbrooke, Que., during the last lap to collect silver.
"We talk a lot about my wins over the last three years but this weekend, these Canadian championships are a big event for me," St-Gelais said.
"Not only in terms of caliber – this is one of the first times where it was as close between me and my opponents but also because I'm thinking a lot about what lies ahead, especially the World championships and the Olympic Games. I'm feeling some stress and I feel the pressure. Tomorrow's 1,000 will be really interesting because that's the distance where the battles are the hardest."
Cournoyer wins in 2nd final
On the men's side, Charle Cournoyer of Boucherville, Que., finished ahead of Charles Hamelin and Pascal Dion to take gold.
The final was held twice because in the first race, the chief referee of the competition stopped the race after Hamelin and Dion fell to the ice as they were both skating out in front. Samuel Bélanger-Marceau and Charle Cournoyer skated on to finish respectively first and second.
The International Skating Union has a rule to stop a race with the goal in mind of protecting skaters in the lead.
"I skated great in each of the rounds," Cournoyer said. "In the first final, I had a bad start. It put me in a hole and I ended up behind everybody. That race was pretty frustrating for me."
Cournoyer made amends in the second final, however.
"Nobody had any legs left to go fast [in the second race] and I won," said Cournoyer. "As for me, I still had strong legs since I'm a skater that has endurance and I won in this situation. Instead of finishing second, I came in first."