Pascal Dion ended his day with two medals around his neck on Sunday at the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Nagoya, Japan.
Dion first won a bronze medal in the men’s 1,000-meter final and then joined forces with Charles Hamelin, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Steven Dubois to help Canada claim gold in the male relay.
Dion was fourth with two laps to go in the 1,000-meter final when Hungarian Shaolin Sandor Liu slipped into the protective wall after passing China’s Ren Ziwei to grab first place.
The Quebecer withstood a push from American Brandon Kim and crossed the finish line in a time of 1: 26.554. It was his second individual medal of the season.
“I feel really good on the ice and I’m really happy with how things turned out with my two medals today,” said Dion. In the 1000 meters, I had some great races. I think if everything is aligned I am able to come out with some good races and I proved it in a second weekend in a row. “
Ziwei ultimately won the event (1: 26.297) while Dutchman Itzhak de Laat (1: 26.533) won the silver medal. Dubois took the 22nd place while Hamelin was satisfied with the 36th echelon.
The Canadian relay then advanced to a spectacular final, in which it secured its first gold medal since the World Cup in Dordrecht, Netherlands, in 2020.
After seeing the team spend a good part of the race in second place, Dubois gained speed thanks to a solid rally launched by Pierre-Gilles, which allowed him to overtake his Chinese opponent from the outside in the last turn and take control.
“I saw the Chinese losing his feet in the rally so I knew he wasn’t in total control. I knew I had the legs and could go fast, Dubois observed. I waited for him to slow down a bit, saw the space outside and went for it. At the same time, if I stayed second, I knew the Hungarian was coming quickly, so I had no choice. “
Canada finished the 5,000-meter race with a time of 6: 52.272, which was enough to lead China (6: 52.285) and Hungary (6: 52.386).
The women’s relay took seventh place while the mixed relay could not do better than eighth place.
Canadians Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault competed in the women’s 1,000-meter final, but they both narrowly missed the podium.
Sarault, who took each of the top three positions in turn during the race, failed to block the passage of Dutchwoman Suzanne Schulting, who passed her on the last lap. Boutin skated at the back of the peloton without being able to slip through.
Sarault finished fourth while Boutin followed in 5th place. Florence Brunelle was in 24th position.
“It was a tough weekend, but I think it was a big improvement over last week in Beijing. I made two A finals, which proves that I am capable of ranking among the top-5 in the world. Quietly, I am getting better and better and I am regaining my shape, ”said Boutin.
American Kristen Santos took the gold (1: 30.013) ahead of Schulting (1: 30.077) and her Dutch compatriot Xandra Velzeboer (1: 30.089).
The Canadian short track team will return to action in three weeks at the World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary, November 18-21.