Dandjinou brings home 1500m gold and 500m silver; Sarault golden in women’s 1000m; Roussel earns 1500m silver

DORDRECHT, NETHERLANDS – Canadians earned four medals on Saturday at the ISU Short Track World Tour stop in Dordrecht, including gold from Courtney Sarault and William Dandjinou, along with a first medal of the season for Félix Roussel, who captured 1500m silver.

Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) made a long outside pass on Dutch speedster Xandra Velzeboer with four laps remaining to grab the top spot in the women’s 1000m final. The 25-year-old (1:27.701) picked up the speed to create some separation with hard-charging American Corinne Stoddard (1:27.752) and Belgian Hanne Desmet (1:27.897), who finished second and third, respectively.

It was the third 1000m victory of the season for Sarault, having previously won back-to-back gold in Montreal, and grabbing silver last weekend in Gdansk. She finishes the season with a comfortable lead atop the distance rankings.

“I’m very happy about my race! I was having some doubts yesterday but I woke up today and focused on what I could control and on having some fun too, and it payed off!”

Courtney Sarault

Sarault and her teammates Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.), Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.) and Claudia Gagnon (La Baie, Que.) were victims of an unfortunate fall in the relay semifinal, relegating them to the B Final, where they took the top spot and finished the distance ranked fifth overall.

It was an action packed day on the men’s side as well, where Crystal Globe leader Dandjinou reached the podium twice, while teammate Roussel earned his first individual distance medal of the season.

Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.) and Roussel (Sherbrooke, Que.) finished in the top two spots of the men’s 1500m. The 25-year-old Dandjinou (2:16.600) moved into first place with four laps remaining by overtaking race leader Jens Van ‘T Wout of the Netherlands. The hometown Dutchman was forced to the inside in the straight during the pass, causing him to lose enough speed for Roussel (2:16.670) to jump into second. China’s Sun Long (2:16.772) rounded out the podium in bronze medal position.

“There’s no better feeling than having two Canadians on the top of the podium! Sharing the podium with William is always special. It was definitely very emotional; that’s the word that best describes how I felt after the final. It’s been a really tough season. After the Canadian Championships, which went well and where I challenged William a lot, I needed to find my bearings internationally. I finished second in Montreal in the 1500m before being penalized with a yellow card. To finally get a real medal and be rewarded for all the effort I put in this summer was really special. I knew it was my last competition before the Games, and I really wanted to give myself a little confidence boost because I had definitely lost some of that confidence as the competitions went on.”

Félix Roussel

Dandjinou followed up his 1500m podium up with 500m silver, a medal that helped him clinch the World Tour title in the distance. The Canadian originally crossed the line in third place (42.136) but was upgraded to silver after teammate Steven Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.), who won the race, was penalized for lightly bumping competitor Pietro Sighel, causing the Italian to crash into the protective mats. American Andrew Heo (42.012) was the primary beneficiary of Dubois’ penalty, earning gold, while Poland’s Félix Pigeon was thrust into bronze medal position (42.218).

“I’m very happy to share the podium with Félix today in the 1500m, in an environment with an incredible crowd like in Dordrecht. I’m also happy with my 500m; it was a slightly more strategic race. There were a lot of lessons learned, for me and for the team as a whole, during this day of cmpetition.”

William Dandjinou

The ISU Short Track World Tour in Dordrecht concludes tomorrow with the men’s 1000m and 5000m relay, women’s 1500m and 500m, and 2000m mixed relay. The Crystal Globes will also be awarded to the top overall male and female skater, a race currently led by Dandjinou and Sarault. Racing will be live streamed on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports digital platforms beginning at 7:35am ET.

Results

Men’s 1500m

William Dandjinou: 1st
Félix Roussel: 2nd
Steven Dubois: 21st

Women’s 1000m

Courtney Sarault: 1st
Danaé Blais: 11th
Florence Brunelle: 20th

Men’s 500m

William Dandjinou: 1st
Steven Dubois: 6th
Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 38th

Relays

Women’s: 5th