Dubois wins silver in 500m; Dion and Boutin bring home bronze in 1500m
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Canada captured three medals during an eventful Saturday evening at the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Seoul. Steven Dubois won silver in the men’s 500m, while Pascal Dion and Kim Boutin both won bronze in their respective 1500m races.
Boutin kicked things off with a hard-fought bronze medal in the women’s 1500m, a race that saw six lead changes over 13 laps. It was her third career World Championship medal in the distance, having previously captured silver in 2019 and 2022.
The Sherbrooke native executed a double inside pass with two laps remaining to overtake Canadian teammate Courtney Sarault and American Kristen Santos-Griswold and move into third place. At the finish line, Boutin (2:31.575) outstretched Belgium’s Hanne Desmet (2:31.579) – who took a wide, outside line exiting the final corner – to grab the last spot on the podium by only 0.004 seconds.
Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands (2:31.349) was crowned World Champion, while Korea’s Minjeong Choi (2:31.448) captured silver.
On the men’s side, a pair of penalties helped Canadians Steven Dubois and Pascal Dion reach the podium in their respective distances.
Despite crossing the line in silver medal position of the men’s 1500m, Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.) was penalized and disqualified for making contact with Dutch skater Jens van ‘T Wout while making a pass midway through the race. Dubois’ teammate Dion, who was narrowly edged out at the finish line for third place by Italy’s Pietro Sighel, was moved into a podium position following the call.
Korea’s Ji Won Park (2:17.792) won the title on home ice, while Sighel (2:17.898) finished second ahead of Dion (2:17.986). It marked the Montreal native’s second career World Championship podium in the 1500m, having also captured silver on home ice last year in Montreal.
While the 1500m result was no doubt disappointing for Dubois, the triple Olympic medalist got his redemption a little over an hour later, benefiting from a penalty call in the men’s 500m final to bring home the silver medal.
The 25-year-old grabbed the lead thanks to a blistering start and held that position for nearly the entire race, before being passed by China’s Lin Xiaojun and Italy’s Sighel in the final turn. Dubois crossed the finish line in third place but was later moved up to second after officials penalized the Chinese skater for not wearing his timing transponders.
As a result of the penalty, Sighel (41.166) was elevated to gold medal position, ahead of Dubois (41.223) and van ‘T Wout of the Netherlands (41.243). It marks Dubois’ first career World Championship medal in an individual distance. He becomes the first Canadian to reach the 500m podium at the event since Charles Hamelin won bronze in 2014.
In addition to their hardware, Canada earned four top-10 results on Saturday. Rikki Doak finished fourth in the women’s 500m and Courtney Sarault was fifth in the women’s 1500m. Meanwhile, Maxime Laoun won his 500m B-Final to finish sixth overall, while Claudia Gagnon was ranked ninth overall after a second-place result in her 1500m B-Final.
The ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships concludes tomorrow, where world titles will be awarded in the men’s and women’s 1000m, as well as the 2000m Mixed Relay, 3000m Women’s Relay and 5000m Men’s Relay. The races will be live streamed on CBC Sports digital platforms, with colour commentary in English provided by Olympian Michael Gilday.
Quotes
“I’m pretty proud of today’s race! Doing the 1500m was a bit of a challenge for me because I’ve only raced it once this year at a World Cup. I knew I had to have keep some legs until the end and make sure I was ready for a big pass, which I managed to do! It’s the first year of the Olympic quad and we have been trying some new things during the season, so it’s really nice to win a medal at the World Championships.”
Kim Boutin
“It was a pretty exciting race and I felt that I raced it well. I was in the top-2 most of the race and made some quick outside passes to keep my position. Unfortunately, at the end Steven [Dubois] tried to make a pass on the third place skater but hit me a little bit so I got bumped to fourth place. Because of his penalty and disqualification I managed to finish third and am happy with the result. To win a World Championship medal two years in a row means a lot. It feels good to once again be one of the best skaters in the world.”
Pascal Dion
“I knew the ice was a little sketchy, so I felt I had to be fast while remaining alert to the guys behind me. I went strong from the beginning and then saw the Chinese skater [Lin Xiaojun] coming in fast, so I knew I had to go in super tight. He tried to pass me from the outside and I blocked him as much as I could, but that caused me to lose a bit of speed at the end and finish in second position, which I’m still happy about. I’ve been looking forward to winning a medal at the World Championships for a long time. It was one of the only things left that I wanted to accomplish as a skater, so I’m pretty stocked about it. Next time, I’m going for gold!”
Steven Dubois
Results
- Women’s 500m
- Rikki Doak: 4th
- Kim Boutin: 9th
- Renee Steenge: 27th
- Women’s 1500m
- Kim Boutin: 3rd
- Courtney Sarault: 5th
- Claudia Gagnon: 9th
- Men’s 500m
- Steven Dubois: 2nd
- Maxime Laoun: 6th
- Felix Roussel: 21st
- Men’s 1500m
- Pascal Dion: 3rd
- Steven Dubois: 8th
- Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 26th