Men’s relay squad reaches the top step of the podium for the first time since winning gold at Beijing 2022
SALT LAKE CITY, USA – New Brunswick natives Rikki Doak and Courtney Sarault reached the podium at the ISU World Cup Short Track on Sunday, winning 500m bronze and 1000m silver, respectively. The men’s and women’s relay teams also brought home some hardware on the final day of competition.
Doak captured the first World Cup medal of her career in an individual, edging out teammate Danaé Blais at the finish line to grab bronze in the women’s 500m-2.
The 24-year old Fredericton native – who was fourth in yesterday’s 500m, a race won by fellow Canadian Kim Boutin – posted a time of 42.478, placing her behind Korea’s Minjeong Choi (42.384) and Xandra Velzeboer (41.602) of the Netherlands, who set a new world record in the distance on Friday, breaking Boutin’s mark established in 2019.
It was a heartbreaking result for Blais (42.486), who finished just off the 500m podium for the second straight weekend, having earned a then career-best fourth place at the season opener in Montreal.
Meanwhile, Moncton’s Sarault won her first World Cup medal of the season later in the evening, bringing home silver in the women’s 1000m.
The 22-year old was in the lead for the first three laps of the A Final but couldn’t hold off eventual winner Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands (1:28.241). Sarault’s time of 1:28.291 placed her comfortably in second, ahead of Kristen Santos-Griswold of the U.S. (1:32.965), who was a distance third after being involved in a three-skater crash in the final lap.
On the men’s side, both Steven Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.) and Pascal Dion (Montreal, Que.) finished just shy of the podium. Dubois was fourth in the 500m-2, while Dion lost his balance in the second last lap of the men’s 1000m, a fall that relegated him to fifth place.
The day concluded with a pair of relay medals for Canada.
The women’s team of Boutin, Blais, Sarault and Renee Steenge won their second silver medal of the season, posting a time of 4:04.137 to finish behind the Koreans (4:04.016) and ahead of the Italians (4:05.538).
The men’s squad of Dubois, Dion, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Maxine Laoun – defending Olympic champions in the discipline – reached the top step of the podium for the first time since winning gold in Beijing. After jostling for position for much of the race, Dubois pushed Dion into lead with 11 laps remaining and the Canadians (6:35.847) never looked back, picking up the speed to a pace the Koreans (6:36.539) and Chinese (6:37.054) couldn’t keep up with.
Canada ends the first two World Cup stops of the season with 12 medals, including five in the relays. Individual distance medalists include Dubois (2), Dion (1) Boutin (1), Laoun (1), Doak (1) and Sarault (1).
The Canadian short track team is back in action next weekend at the ISU Four Continents Short Track Championships in Salt Lake City. The races will be live streamed by CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports.
Quotes
I’m very happy about my race today! I was aggressive until the very end and am so happy to win my first individual distance medal!
Rikki Doak
I’m super happy about my performance today. I decided to stop doubting myself and just go for it, and it payed off. It feels great to be back on the podium!
Courtney Sarault
It really wasn’t a great day for any of the boys on an individual level, so it was clear that we needed to redeem ourselves in the relay. It made for a exciting end to the competition and I am looking forward to the next World Cups.
Jordan Pierre-Gilles
Results
- Courtney Sarault: 2nd in 1000m
- Rikki Doak: 3rd in 500m
- Danaé Blais: 4th in 500m
- Kim Boutin: 8th in 1000m
- Renée Steenge: 9th in 500m
- Claudia Gagnon: 15th in 1000m
- Steven Dubois: 4th in 500m
- Pascal Dion: 5th in 1000m
- Maxime Laoun: 23rd in 1000m
- Mathieu Pelletier: 12th in 500m
- Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 18th in 500m
- Félix Roussel: 17th in 1000m