Kim Boutin and Steven Dubois were crowned Canadian short track champions of the year 2022, after three days of competition at the Canadian Speed Skating Championships in Quebec City. They were both at the third national title in a row of their respective careers.
Updated yesterday at 8:31 p.m.
The Sherbrooke resident won four medals — three gold and one silver — to end the weekend with 19,000 points. She finished with a lead of 1,800 points over Courtney Sarault and second overall.
Boutin won the two individual races on the program on Sunday, finishing the 500 meters in 43.67 seconds and the 1,000 m (1:37.438). The one who won four Olympic medals was accompanied on the 500 m podium by Renée Steenge (43.758 s) and Rikki Doak (43.848 s), while the 1000 m podium was completed by Sarault (1 min 38 s.007 s ) and Steenge (1:38.162).
On the men’s side, Dubois finished first overall with 20,000 points with four gold medals, two in the 500m, one in the 1,000m and one in the 1,500m. He finished the competition with a cushion of 3,000 points over his nearest rival, Pascal Dion.
PHOTO HUGO-SEBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Steve Dubois in November 2019
Dubois (40,574) had the upper hand over Maxime Laoun (40.807 s) and Mathieu Pelletier (41.852) in the 500 m, then he beat Dion (1 min 28 s.394 s) and Félix Roussel (1 min 28 s.501 s) in the 1000 m, then completing the distance in 1 min 28 s.271 s.
The Canadian Short Track Team will kick off its international season at the ISU Short Track World Cup in Montreal, taking place October 28-30 at Aréna Maurice-Richard.
Maltese triumphs in the mass start
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Valérie Maltais at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
Valérie Maltais was crowned national champion in the mass start on the last day of long track events, earning her first title of her kind in this discipline.
The Saguenéenne completed the race in 8 min 49 s.716 s, extending her leg to edge out Maddison Pearman (8 min 49 s.721 s) narrowly in first place. Quebec skater Béatrice Lamarche (8:50.710) won the bronze medal — her third of the weekend — ahead of her team.
After being crowned 1500m champion on Friday, Connor Howe (7:49.623) was the winner of a thrilling men’s final, where different skaters took the lead at one time or another and where there were several crashes, including those of title contenders Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu and Graeme Fish. Howe, a Canmore athlete, was joined on the podium by Hayden Mayeur (7:49.880) and Jake Weidemann (7:49.913).
He won his first career title in this event.
The international long track season kicks off in November, with World Cup stops in Norway and the Netherlands.