Canada’s men’s short track relay team joined the women’s squad atop the podium at the ISU World Championships in Beijing, leading a six-medal performance that included three golds on Sunday.
The country’s 10-medal tally marked its best showing since 1996, while the six gold medals were the most since 1994.
“This is all pretty crazy, there are really no other words,” said team member Steven Dubois. “We were hoping for good results, and we knew we had a shot in every distance, but to win everything we touched on the ice this weekend is surreal. We are the strongest team, and we showed it.”
Canada wrapped up the season with 37 medals across six World Tour stops. Athletes will now begin their Olympic journey to Milan-Cortina at the Canadian Short Track Championships in Montreal from Aug. 23-31.
In the men’s 5,000m relay, William Dandjinou, Maxime Laoun, Felix Roussel, and Dubois secured gold at the Capital Indoor Stadium, the same venue where they won Olympic gold in 2022. Their time of 6:41.271 was enough to edge out 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 we are world champions,” said Laoun. “We hadn’t won the men’s relay world title since 2013. It was something we wanted badly, and we worked all year toward this goal.”
On Saturday, Courtney Sarault, Rikki Doak, Florence Brunelle, and Kim Boutin won the women’s 3,000m relay gold.
Dubois also triumphed in the men’s 1,000m, clocking 1:23.348 in a tight finish ahead of Montreal’s Dandjinou (1:23.352). With six laps to go, Dubois pulled ahead and held off Dandjinou, who lunged at the finish line in an attempt to steal the victory.
In the mixed 2,000m relay, Dubois, Boutin, Brunelle, and Dandjinou secured Canada’s first-ever world medal in the event since its introduction in 2023, winning gold in 2:36.232 over Italy (2:36.619).
Rikki Doak and Courtney Sarault also added silver medals to Canada’s haul. Doak finished second in the women’s 500m with a time of 42.286, behind Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer (42.132), earning her first world championship podium. “I’m very happy with how I raced today. Winning my first world championship medal is crazy,” said Doak.
Sarault, from Moncton, N.B., captured silver in the women’s 1,500m with a time of 2:27.194, narrowly behind South Korea’s Minjeong Choi (2:27.136).
Source: Swifteradio.com
