Félix Roussel brings home 500m silver; William Dandjinou wins first career World Cup medal with bronze in 1000m

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.

Quotes

“This medal definitely leaves me with a different feeling because I wasn’t very happy with the way that I raced and won. It was not my best performance. Today, however, it’s difficult for me to have done any better given I had the reigning Olympic champion ahead of me.”

Félix Roussel

“I that if Steven was in a good position at that moment it would be adventageous for the team. These guys are so use to being in this sort of race. 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 weeekend. We’re leaving with four medals and that something that a lot of other teams would love to have.”

William Dandjinou

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