Montreal native wins Canada’s first-ever overall title after pair of top 10 results Saturday

MILAN, ITALY – Canadian short track skaters were held off the ISU Short Track World Tour podium for the first time all season, but breakout star William Dandjinou gave them something to celebrate after securing the men’s ISU Crystal Globe as the season’s top overall skater.

Dandjinou faced some adversity during the opening day of racing in Milan but overcame those challenges and made history by becoming Canada’s first-ever Crystal Globe winner, dethroning two-time winner Park Ji-won of Korea. 

The 23-year-old Montreal native finished ninth overall in the men’s 1500m to start the day, a distance won by Dutch skater Jens, who made up some important ground in the standings with the win, extending the two-way battle for the top spot.

Advanced into the 500m A Final after crashing out in the semifinal later in the afternoon, Dandjinou fell just short of the podium with a fourth-place result but finished one spot ahead of van ‘T Wout to secure the overall title. The Canadian holds a now insurmontable 154-point lead with only tomorrow’s 1000m to go, after which the trophy will be presented.

“I am very happy to have clinched the Crystal Globe today. I would have liked to have better individual races, but sometimes it’s important to focus on the bigger objective and not the performance of the moment. So, overall, I think it was a great day that was more concentrated on what needed to be done than on perfection.”

William Dandjinou

A pair of Canadian women also came close to the podium on Saturday in individual distances.

Victim of a crash during the women’s 1000m final, Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières , Que.) was the first of three fallen skaters back onto her feet, crossing the finish line in third position for what seemed like a bittersweet bronze medal. The 21-year-old was however penalized for not staying in her lane in the straight, relegating her to the bottom of the standings and elevating Italy’s Elisa Confortola into bronze medal position. 

Fellow Canadian Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.), who was also involved in the crash with Brunelle, settled for a fourth-place result, behind Confortola (1:42.317) and the American duo of Corinne Stoddard (1:29.445) and Kristen Santos-Griswold (1:29.320).

The women’s relay squad of Blais, Brunelle, Kim Boutin (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) fell just short of the podium in the final, battling tough ice conditions and some messy exchanges en route to a fourth-place finish behind China, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Despite the lack of medals, Canada grew its commanding lead atop the ISU Team Crystal Globe standings. The Ice Maples have all but secured the inaugural team title, which will be presented following Sunday’s races.

The final ISU Short Track World Tour of the season concludes tomorrow where medals will be awarded in the 2000m mixed relay, women’s 500m and 1500m, and men’s 1000m and 5000m relay. Races will be live streamed on CBC Sports digital platforms beginning at 8:00am ET.

Results

Men’s 500m
William Dandjinou: 4th
Steven Dubois: 6th
Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 17th
Women’s 1000m
Danaé Blais : 4th
Florence Brunelle: 5th 
Courtney Sarault: 7th
Men’s 1500m
Maxime Laoun: 8th
William Dandjinou: 9th
Steven Dubois: 17th
Relay
Women’s: 4th