Steven Dubois captures silver in 1000m
ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN – Canada’s short track relay teams both reached the World Cup podium on Sunday. The men repeated as gold medallist for the third consecutive competition, while the women brought home silver.
For the second weekend in a row, Jordan Pierre-Gilles executed a textbook late pass in the entry of the final corner to move into first place and secure the win for his teammates. The Sherbrooke native overtook Dutch skater Itzhak de Laat with his pass and outstretched him at the finish line to end an exciting race. The Canadians posted a time of 6:54.891, followed by the Netherlands (6:54.935) and Japan (6:55.648).
Pierre-Gilles was joined on the podium by Pascal Dion, Maxime Laoun, William Dandjinou and Steven Dubois, who took part in both the semifinals and quarterfinals.
The Canadian women were also medalists on Sunday, as Danaé Blais, Kim Boutin, Courtney Sarault and Renee Steenge raced to silver (4:13.564). There were six lead changes between Canada and Korea throughout the 27-lap race, with the Koreans (4:12.963) passing the Canadians with two laps remaining and holding on for the victory. Hungary (4:16.299) started and finished the race third, settling for bronze.
Meanwhile, Steven Dubois was the lone Canadian to medal in an individual distance on final day of World Cup action, bringing home silver in the men’s 1000m, one day after winning the same colour medal in the 500m-1.
The 25-year-old moved into the lead midway through the race, but Korea’s Ji Won Park (1:24.573) overtook Dubois (1:24.775) and Poland’s Roberts Kruzbergs (1:24.917) with an impressive double inside pass in the last lap, relegating the Lachenaie, Que., native to second.
After four events, Canada currently sits atop the World Cup rankings in both the men’s and women’s relays, while Courtney Sarault (2), Steven Dubois (3), Pascal Dion (4), Maxime Laoun (7) and Kim Boutin (8) are all ranked within the top-10 overall.
The Canadian short track team ends the first half of the season with a total of 25 World Cup medals (11 gold, 10 silver, 4 bronze). The team will return to action in February, with World Cup stops in Germany and the Netherlands. The season will conclude with the World Championships in Seoul, South Korea, from March 10-12, 2023.
Quotes
The team is really happy with today’s results, it gives us a lot of confidence for the last half of the season. I find it very impressive that, regardless of our performances in individual distances, each skater has the ability to come to the relay concentrated and with the will to win.
Pascal Dion
We are quite happy with our relay performances this weekend. Today’s final was a bit more difficult as we had a new order and made some mistakes, but overall we were happy with our race. We have improved a lot since the begining of the season and that’s encouraging. It’s a benefit to be able to use all six girls in multiple different combinations and orders. It allows the coaches adjust the gameplan based on the results in individual distances.
Danaé Blais
Results
Women’s 500m
- Rikki Doak: 6th
- Danaé Blais: 18th
- Renée Steenge: 20th
Women’s 1000m
- Kim Boutin: 4th
- Courtney Sarault: 6th
- Claudia Gagnon: 9th
Men’s 500m
- Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 8th
- Félix Roussel: 10th
- William Dandjinou: 13th
Men’s 1000m
- Steven Dubois: 2nd
- Pascal Dion: 4th
- Maxime Laoun: 7th
Relays
- Men: 1st
- Women: 2nd