Brunelle wins first career gold medal with 500m victory; Sarault captures first individual distance medal of the season

TILBURG, NETHERLANDS – Florence Brunelle captured her first career gold medal, while Courtney Sarault made her much anticipated return to the podium during the final day of ISU Short Track World Tour racing in the Netherlands.

Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.) cruised to victory in the women’s 500m to bring home the first World Tour gold medal of her career in an individual distance. The 21-year-old stopped the clock at 43.141, fending off constant pressure from Dutch skater Michelle Velzeboer (43.257) and American Kristen Santos-Griswold (43.500) to earn the long-awaited win.

A two-time World Junior Champion in the distance, Brunelle had won 500m silver in Beijing and Korea earlier this season, the first senior-level medals of her young career.

“I am extremely happy and proud. In the last two World Tour stops, I earned the silver medal. I knew that gold was possible, but it’s still important to make it happen! My first gold medal is excellent, but what I’m most happy about is the way I achieved it. Lots of things have happened in the last month that could have destabalized me. But, in the end, I knew that what would be most beneficial for me was to stay in the moment.”

Florence Brunelle

Earlier in the afternoon, Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) grabbed the lead at the midway point of the women’s 1500m final but was overtaken by Belgium’s Hanne Desmet from the outside with two laps remaining. Despite crossing the finish line first, Desmet was penalized for contacting Italian Arianna Fontana earlier in the race, a decision that vaulted Sarault into gold medal position.

The 24-year-old Canadian crossed the finish line in 2:27.388 and was joined on the podium by Italy’s Elisa Confortola (2:27.406) and Corinne Stoddard of the United States (2:27.525). The win marked Sarault’s first individual distance medal of the season, having missed the two World Tour stops in Montreal due to a concussion and coming close with three A Final appearances during the competitions in China and Korea.

“I am super happy about today. Yesterday, I fell a little bit short in the 1000m, so I knew that I only had two big efforts today and I was willing to really fight for it. I think I did the perfect race to get myself in the right spot at the right time. After the year I’ve had, I owed it to myself to just skate, be in the moment, and give myself the best chance by letting go of everything that has happened in the past.”

Courtney Sarault

In the men’s 1000m, reigning world champion William Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.) was penalized and given a yellow card for the second day in a row after making a dangerous pass in the final that took out two fellow competitors. Felix Roussel (Sherbrooke, Que.) crashed out in that same race, settling for a fourth-place result.

The day ended in controversy for the men’s relay squad of Roussel, Steven Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.), Jordan Pierre-Gilles (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Maxime Laoun (Montreal, Que.), who were eliminated from medal contention after Dutch skater Jens van ‘T Wout knocked Dubois down at the exit of the final corner. The officials deemed there was joint responsibility and didn’t hand out any penalties, resulting in a Dutch victory on home ice, ahead of Belgium and Italy.

Canada leaves Tilburg with five medals, including gold from Sarault, Brunelle, William Dandjinou and Steven Dubois, as well as silver from Jordan Pierre-Gilles. After the first five World Tour events of the season, the Ice Maples sit atop the ISU Team Crystal Globe rankings with 7,422 points, comfortably ahead of their closest competitors the Dutch Lions (5,771).

The final ISU Short Track World Tour stop takes place from February 14-16 in Milan, host of next winter’s 2026 Olympic Games. Racing will be live streamed on CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports digital platforms.

Results 

Women’s 500m

Florence Brunelle: 1st
Danaé Blais: 8th
Kim Boutin: 10th

Men’s 1000m

Felix Roussel: 4th
Steven Dubois: 6th
William Dandjinou: YC

Women’s 1500m

Courtney Sarault: 1st
Claudia Gagnon: 9th
Danaé Blais: 19th

Relay

Men’s: 4th
Mixed: 5th