Steven Dubois wins 1000m gold in exciting photo-finish; Pascal Dion, William Dandjinou and Félix Roussel also capture medals

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Four different Canadian men reached the podium at the ISU World Cup Short Track in Seoul on Saturday, combining to win one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Steven Dubois (Lachenaie , Que.) captured his first gold medal of the season, narrowly edging out hometown favorite Hwang Daeheon in an exciting men’s 1000m final.

Dubois was at the front of the pack during the final lap of the race, when Daeheon made an all-out push for the podium. The Korean passed Canadian Pascal Dion (Montreal, Que) at the entry of the final corner to move into second, before lunging forward at the finish line to try and steal the victory.

A photo-finish was needed to determine the winner of the thrilling race that saw nine lead changes. The 26-year-old Dubois crossed the line with a time of 1:27.099, ahead of Daeheon (1:27.113) and teammate Dion (1:27.302), who reached the World Cup podium for the first time this season in an individual distance.

Canada also earned a double podium in the men’s 1500m-1, as William Dandjinou won silver and Felix Roussel captured bronze.

Korea’s Park Ji Won had the crowd behind him as he cruised to victory on home ice with a time of 2:16.323, comfortably ahead of Dandjinou (2:16.482) and Roussel (2:16.553).

Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.) won his forth medal of the season, while Roussel (Sherbrooke, Que.) captured his second, adding to the 500m silver he won in Montreal.

Meanwhile, Courtney Sarault was the top ranked female skater, earning a fifth place result in the 1000m. The Canadian women’s relay team also posted the fastest semifinal time to earn the top qualifying spot for tomorrow’s final.

The ISU World Cup Short Track in Seoul concludes Sunday with the 500m, 1500m and relay finals. Races will be live streamed on CBC digital platforms, including CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem app.

Quotes

“I knew he was making a pass because I heard the crowd and then I saw on the video but I thought he was so far (back), so I came out of the corner and I was like I’m fine and then I saw him the last moment and we kind of hit each other and I fell. At the line I knew I had him but he gave me a heart attack.”

Steven Dubois

“I am happy with my result! The legs are less there than last week, but my mentality is still there. I’m happy to have been able to share the podium with my friend and teammate Felix [Roussel]. I’m proud of myself, the experience is coming in and I’ll be more ready tomorrow.”

William Dandjinou

“I had some very good races today with few mistakes to get to the final. I almost had a perfect race in the final, I just needed a little bit more endurance to finish one or two positions higher on the podium. I’m finally starting to find my legs from last season. It was a difficult start to the season with my summer internship taking up a lot of my time.”

Pascal Dion

Results

1000m

Steven Dubois: 1st
Pascal Dion: 3rd
Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 9th
Courtney Sarault: 5th
Florence Brunelle: 6th
Rikki Doak: 10th

1500m

William Dandjinou: 2nd
Félix Roussel: 3rd
Maxime Laoun: 18th
Renée Steenge: 10th
Danaé Blais: 13th
Claudia Gagnon: 18th