Short Track | Canadian Steven Dubois wins silver in the 1500m

What a comeback! Last in the 1500m final in the first few laps, Canadian Steven Dubois finally won the silver medal on Wednesday in Beijing.

Jean-Francois Teotonio
The Press

And it only took him one lap to close the gap that separated him from the podium. He suddenly moved up from last to third, then second position.

This is Steven Dubois’ very first Olympic.

The Terrebonne resident also managed to counter an attack by Russian Olympic Committee athlete Semen Elistratov, who wanted to take second place from him.

The latter left with the bronze. South Korean Hwang Dae Heon captured the gold medal with a time of 2:09.219

Dubois’ silver medal was confirmed at the photo finish, with a time of 2 min 09 254 s. The Russian clocked a time of 2:09.267.

Surprisingly, this congested final contested with 10 skaters was the cleanest of the event. No falls or penalties were listed.

The best for the end

Of the three Canadians taking part in the 1500m semi-final, only Dubois advanced to the final. Charles Hamelin and Pascal Dion had been eliminated in the semis.

It is clear that the Quebecer saved the best for last during this event.

He had suffered contact during his semi-final wave, enough to temporarily knock him out of the picture. But the 13 and a half laps of this race were eventful: he had finally benefited from an advancement.

The 24-year-old skater started his day with a third-place finish in the quarterfinals, which just qualified him for the semis.

Charles Hamelin took fourth place in the semi-finals, but was penalized for contact during a lane change on the track. The five-time Olympic medalist, 37-year-old veteran, therefore sees his individual career at the Games come to an end. He had made no secret of wanting to add a sixth Olympic medal to his list.

The third Canadian registered, Pascal Dion, had started his semi-final well, but things went wrong afterwards. An overtaking of the Hungarian Sandor Liu Shaolin in the middle of the race seemed to disconcert him. He gradually lost the rhythm and was relegated to the back row. Dion had taken second place in his heat in the quarters.