MONTREAL, QUEBEC – The Canadian women’s and men’s relay teams came out on top during the final day of ISU World Cup Short Track in Montreal, bringing home a pair of gold medals to cap off a four medal day on home ice.
Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.), Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.), Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) and Renee Steenge (Brampton, Ont.) climbed to the top of the podium in the women’s 3000m relay. The Canadian team raced to a time of 4:07.935, narrowly edging out the United States (4:07.948) and the Netherlands (4:07.980).
In the men’s 5000m relay, the team of William Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.), Pascal Dion (Montreal, Que.), Steven Dubois (Terrebonne, Que.) and Jordan Pierre-Gilles (Sherbrooke, Que.) captured the gold medal with a final time of 6:55.656, defeating Korea (6:55.895) and Japan (6:58.854).
Canada also won a pair of individual distance medals on Sunday.
Roussel wrapped up his individual races with an exciting sprint to the silver medal in the men’s 500m. Following strong performances in his quarterfinal and semifinal races, Roussel won his second career World Cup medal with a final time of 40.895. China’s Liu Shaoang (40.875) was the victor, while France’s Quentin Fercoq (41.134) took home bronze.
In the men’s 1000m-2, Dandjinou won both his quarterfinal and semifinal races throughout the day, qualifying for the Final A. The Montreal native avoided a collision between a pair of Korean skaters just before the finish line to capture his first career World Cup medal, brining home bronze with a time of 1:26.964. He was joined on the podium by Korea’s Kim Gun Woo (1:26.712) and Italy’s Luca Spechenhauser (1:26.774).
Rikki Doak (Fredericton, N.B.) fell just short of the 500m podium, finishing in fourth place with a time of 42.313. Meanwhile, Sarault gave consistent performances throughout the day, enabling her to qualify for Final A and a shot at a medal, but also fell just a bit short, settling for a fourth-place result with a final time of 1:31.589.
The ISU World Cup Short Track season continues next weekend with the second of back-to-back competitions on home ice in Montreal. Tickets remain available for Saturday and Sunday’s main sessions, starting at $9.95 for children and $28.75 for adults. Visit mtl.coutepiste.ca for more information.
Results
500m
- Rikki Doak: 4th
- Renee Steenge: 11th
- Florence Brunelle: 17th
- Félix Roussel: 2nd
- Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 18th
- Maxime Laoun: 26th
1000m-2
- Courtney Sarault: 4th
- Claudia Gagnon: 7th
- Danaé Blais: 8th
- William Dandjinou: 3rd
- Steven Dubois: 5th
- Pascal Dion: 9th
Relays
- Women’s: 1st
- Men’s: 1st
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