Canadian women's, men's relay teams strike short track gold at World Cup opener in Montreal
Relay golds highlight 4-medal haul for Canada on final day of event
Canada's short track speed skating team earned its first gold medals of the World Cup season in Montreal on Sunday, with both the women's and men's relay teams securing victories in the last two races of the three-day event.
While the Canadian team as a whole had secured three individual medals throughout the weekend at the World Cup opener, they were still searching for their first gold with just the women's 3,000- and men's 5,000-metre relays to go.
The women's quartet went first after being held off the podium in all individual events up until that point, including Courtney Sarault of Moncton, N.B., narrowly missing the podium in the 1,000m competition earlier on Sunday.
Danaé Blais of Châteauguay, Que., raised her arm in celebration at the finish line, clocking a time of four minutes 7.935 seconds.
As confident as the Canadians were that they had won, their winning time was just 0.013 seconds ahead of the silver-medal winning United States and 0.045 seconds ahead of third-place Netherlands.
The other members of the Canadian women's team were Florence Brunelle of Trois-Rivières, Que., and Montreal's Renée Marie Steenge.
The Canadian men's relay squad comprised of William Dandjinou and Pascal Dion of Montreal, Steven Dubois of Terrebonne, Que., and Jordan Pierre-Gilles of Sherbrooke, Que., equalled their teammates just minutes later, securing gold with a time of 6:55.656.
South Korea took silver with a time of 6:55.895, while Japan (6:58.854) earned bronze after the Chinese team crashed mid-race, effectively taking them out of the running.
The Canadian men are the reigning Olympic champions in the event, with Dubois, Pierre-Gilles and Dion combining with Maxime Laoun and the retired Charles Hamelin to win gold at the Beijing Games in 2022.
"[My teammates] are so used to being in this sort of race, said Dandjinou to Speed Skating Canada. "My objective was just to help put us in those types of favourable positions. Globally, as a team, I think we did very well this weekend. We're leaving with four medals and that something that a lot of other teams would love to have."
Roussel, Dandjinou add individual medals for Canada
Felix Roussel of Sherbrooke, Que., skated away with his second ever individual World Cup medal earlier on Sunday, earning silver in the men's 500.
With a time of 40.895, the 22-year-old finished just 0.02 seconds back of the reigning Olympic gold medallist in the event, Shaoang Liu of China. Liu won Olympic gold as a member of the Hungarian national team, and is now representing China internationally.
"It's difficult for me to have done any better given I had the reigning Olympic champion ahead of me," said Roussel to Speed Skating Canada.
Quentin Fercoq of France won bronze after taking advantage of a chaotic last turn exchange between Diané Sellier of Poland and Shaolin Liu of China. Liu received a yellow card for dangerous behaviour after losing balance and hooking Sellier's arm, sending him careening into the barrier.
In another chaotic race, Dandjinou took bronze in the second men's 1,000m race of the weekend with a time of 1:26.964.
Three Korean racers looked to be in position to medal heading into the final turn, but Kim Gun Woo was the only one to nab any hardware, finishing with a gold-medal winning time of 1:26.712.
Italy's Luca Spechenhauser (1:26.774) jumped from last to second in an instant when Hwang Dae-heon was assessed a yellow card for dangerous behaviour after colliding with country mate Park Ji-won, taking both out of the race.
Dandjinou's bronze is his first individual medal on the World Cup circuit, matching the one he won in the 1,000m event at the Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships in November of last year.
A day after winning a silver medal in the first men's 1,000m race, Dubois took the victory in the men's B final for the 1,000m on Sunday.
Fredericton's Rikki Doak narrowly missed the podium in the women's 500m final earlier in the day with a time of 42.313, just 0.044 seconds back of bronze medallist Martina Valcepina of Italy.
The Dutch duo of Xandra Velzeboer and Selma Poutsm took gold and silver, respectively. Velzeboer earned first place with a time of 41.961, 0.12 seconds clear of her countrymate.
