Canadian relay teams claim gold in world short track tour

By The Canadian Press on November 3, 2024.

MONTREAL – Canada’s short track team reached the podium four times on Sunday, winning both the men’s and mixed gender relays to close out the ISU Short Track World Tour in Montreal.

The Canadian squad concluded its two-week homestand with 14 medals, including nine gold and two silvers.

The medal haul started soon after the doors to the Maurice Richard Arena opened on Sunday as the 2,000-metre mixed relay squad of Steven Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.), Kim Boutin (Sherbrooke, Que.), Félix Roussel (Sherbrooke) and Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.) captured gold in the first distance of the day.

The Canadians (2:37.684) were matched up against Netherlands (2:37.960) and Japan (2:40.162) in a three-team final, jockeying for position throughout much of the race. A well-executed relay by Boutin helped push Brunelle past her Dutch counterpart and into the lead. Roussel and Dubois kept the pace high during their final legs, fending off a hard pressing attack from their rivals to hold the lead and cross the line first.

It was a long-awaited first-place finish for the Canadians, who won gold for only the second time since the mixed relay was added to the international circuit six seasons ago. The country’s only other victory was at the World Cup in Almaty in December 2018, where Boutin, Samuel Girard, Alyson Charles and Cédrick Blais reached the top of the podium.

The day was bookmarked with another relay victory, as the men’s team of Dubois, Roussel, William Dandjinou (Montreal) and Jordan Pierre-Gilles (Sherbrooke) repeated as gold medallists in the 5,000-metre marathon with a time of 6:41.532. .

The quartet were forced to implement a different strategy than the one that helped them secure the top spot last weekend, working their way from the back of the field with nine laps remaining, before picking up the speed to create a sizable gap between their competitors from Korea (6:42.045) and Italy (6:42.442).

Things were equally as exciting in Sunday’s individual distances.

Danjinou and Pierre-Gilles earned a double podium for Canada in the 1,000 metres, finishing first and third, respectively.

The 23-year-old Dandjinou, who has build a comfortable 172-point lead atop the Crystal Globe standings, earned his third individual distance medal of the weekend, cruising to victory ahead of Korea’s Jang Sungwoo (1:25.010) and teammate Pierre-Gilles (1:25.072), who matched his best international result in the distance, having a previous won bronze at the World Cup in Almaty during the 2022-23 season.

On the women’s side, Boutin took part in a stacked 1,500-metre final, where she fell short of the podium, finishing fifth. The Sherbrooke native also skated in the 500-metre B Final alongside teammate Rikki Doak (Fredericton, N.B.), finishing second and fourth, respectively.

Canada sits atop the overall ISU Team Crystal Globe standings after the first two World Tour stops of the season with 3,106 points, ahead of Korea (2,578) and the Netherlands (2,145).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2024.