Félix Roussel earns third victory of weekend with 1000m gold; William Dandjinou returns to top of the podium with 1500m win
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – Florence Brunelle was the top performer on the second day of the 2026 Canadian Short Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance in Montreal, earning victories in both the women’s 1000m and 1500m on Friday.
Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.) kicked things off with early morning gold in the 1000m, outstretching Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) at the finish line to grab the top spot with a time of 1:31.935. Sarault was penalized for kicking out at the finish, an infraction that helped propel Kiera Pagé (Saint-Félicien, Que.) onto the first Canadian Championship podium of her career, earning bronze (1:53.263) behind second-place finisher Danaé Blais (1:32.595).
Kiera Pagé“This is my first ever senior medal, so I feel very happy! Honestly, coming into today I was ranked 11th overall, so I didn’t really expect this, but I put together three good races and luck was on my side, at least more than it was yesterday. This gives me a bit of confidence going into the rest of the competition.”
The 22-year-old Brunelle followed things up with another gold, this time in the second women’s 1500m of the competition. The two-time Olympian earned the victory with a time of 2:30.640, placing her ahead of Ann-Sophie Bachand (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Claudia Gagnon (La Baie, Que.), who stopped the clock at 2:30.936 and 2:31.021, respectively.
Florence Brunelle“I’m starting to feel the fatigue, but I trained super well heading into this competition and things went very well today. Regardless of my results yesterday’s, I was happy with my day. Today, I felt even more connected to the ice and while I won two gold medals, I was also much happier with the way that I skated overall.”
On the men’s side, Félix Roussel captured his third consecutive victory of the season with a win in the 1000m, giving him one gold in each of the three individual distances. The 25-year-old Sherbrooke native posted a time of 1:25.165 in the final, placing him narrowly ahead of Mathieu Pelletier (1:25.250) and Maxime Laoun (1:25.348).
Félix Roussel“I had the legs today, but I feel what helped me the most was good execution. I’m happy to have a victory in each of the individual distances. The more the competiton advances, the harder things will get, so I need to stay concentrated on the points that I’m working on. I’ll probably test a few new things over the next races to try and secure my spot in all the World Tour distances.”
Roussel’s dream of a perfect weekend was ended by reigning ISU Crystal Globe winner William Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.), who got the best of him in the second running of the men’s 1500m on Friday afternoon. The 24-year-old Dandjinou (2:21.208) battled Roussel (2:21,377) until the very end of the Final A, crossing the line slightly ahead of the top-ranked skater, who was followed by Alexandre Migner (Sainte-Julie, Que.) in third position (2:21.476).
Alexandre Migner« I’m pretty happy! This is my first podium of the weekend and I’m satistfied with my race. I raced exaclty how I envisioned and things worked out perfectly. It gives me a boost of confidence moving forward, I just need to execute in my next few races.”
Roussel has a commanding lead atop the men’s overall standings with 19,000 points, almost 6,000 more than his closest competitor, Dandjinou (13,320 points), with only two distances remaining. Things are a bit more open on the women’s side, where Brunelle and Blais currently sit first and second with 17,200 and 15,048 points, respectively,
The 2026 Canadian Short Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance concludes Saturday with the men’s and women’s 500m-2 and 1000m-2. Fans can watch the action live on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports digital platforms, as well as on Speed Skating Canada’s YouTube channel.