Steven Dubois wins 3 races to highlight Canada's 6-medal Sunday at short track worlds
Team won most events outright at the competition for 1st time since 1994
Canada's men's short track relay team joined its women counterparts on the top of the speed skating podium, one of three gold in a six-medal haul Sunday at the ISU world championships in Beijing.
A 10-medal showing overall represents the country's best performance since it reached the podium 10 times in 1996, while the six gold were the most since '94 when Canada won seven.
"This is all pretty crazy, there are really no other words," team member Steven Dubois told Speed Skating Canada. "We were hoping for some good results, and we knew we had a shot in every distance, but for us to win literally everything we touched on the ice this weekend is surreal.
"We are the strongest team, and we showed it. It feels good to end the year on such a good note."
Canada also finished the season with 37 medals across six World Tour stops. This summer, athletes will begin the Olympic journey to Milan-Cortina at the Aug. 23-31 Canadian short track championships in Montreal.
In the men's 5,000 relay on Sunday, William Dandjinou, Maxime Laoun, Felix Roussel and Dubois returned to the top of the podium at the Capital Indoor Stadium, where they claimed 2022 Olympic gold.
WATCH | Dubois leads Canada's men to relay gold in Beijing:
Their time of six minutes 41.271 seconds over 45 laps was enough to defeat China (6:41.840) and South Korea (6:41.891).
"Beijing really has a special place in my heart. We were crowned Olympic champions here and now world champions," said Laoun. "As a team, we have not won the men's relay world championships since 2013. It's a title that we wanted badly and all year we were working toward this goal."
Courtney Sarault, Rikki Doak, Florence Brunelle and Kim Boutin were victorious in the women's 3,000 relay on Saturday.
Dubois of Terrebonne, Que., also prevailed in the men's 1,000m, clocking 1:23.348 in a 1-2 finish with Montreal's Dandjinou (1:23.352).
Dubois pulled in front with six laps to go and held off Dandjinou, who rounded the final corner with speed and stretched out at the finish line to try and steal the top spot from his teammate.
WATCH | Dubois, teammate Dandjinou place 1-2 in men's 1,000 metres:
Sunday's relay win was the third victory of the day for Dubois, who captured the mixed relay over 2,000m with Boutin, Brunelle and Danjinou in 2:36.232 over Italy (2:36.619) for Canada's first medal in the distance since it was introduced to the world championship programme in 2023.
WATCH | Canada captures gold in mixed team relay:
A day earlier, Dubois captured gold in the men's 500.
Doak and Sarault collected individual silver on Sunday in the 500 and 1,500.
Doak, who hails from Fredericton, crossed the finish line in 42.286 for her first podium finish at worlds.
Starting in the second position, the 26-year-old charged ahead after the starting gun but couldn't fend off speedster Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands, who passed her during the third lap and crossed in 42.132. Boutin was fifth (44.646).
WATCH | Doak grabs silver in women's 500m:
"I'm very happy with how I raced today. Winning my first world Championship medal is crazy," Doak said. "I felt really good going into my races, which gave me confidence to be able to do what I did."
Sarault, from Moncton, N.B., earned the fifth individual world medal of her career, clocking 2:27.194 behind South Korea's Minjeong Choi (2:27.136).
WATCH | Sarault secures 1,500m silver in China:
