The women’s short track relay team clinched Canada’s only medal on Sunday as they earned silver to wrap up the final day of competition at the ISU Short Track World Cup in Dresden, in Germany.
Skaters Courtney Sarault, Kim Boutin, Rikki Doak and Renee Steenge battled their rivals from the Netherlands for the duration of the 3000 meter race. However, they failed to overtake the reigning Olympic champions before the finish line and therefore had to settle for a silver medal.
The Dutch (4:07.531) took the lead from the Canadians (4:07.768) with eight laps to go and never looked back. Xandra Velzeboer notably managed to resist an attempt to overtake Boutin following the last exchange to protect the lead.
South Korea took bronze (4:08.238).
Canada was on its fifth medal of the season in the women’s relay, having previously won one gold and three silver. They will take part in the final World Cup of the season next weekend in a three-way tie for first place with the Netherlands and Korea, who all have 340 points.
Disappointment in men
For the men, it was a heartbreaking final for the men’s relay made up of Pascal Dion, Maxime Laoun, William Dandjinou and Félix Roussel. The four Quebecers seemed to be on their way to grab a place on the podium until a misstep with five laps made them lose any chance of finishing among the top three.
Dion lost his balance and fell following a rally. Although he recovered immediately, the speed he lost allowed the Hungarians to take third place from the Canadians, who stopped the clock in 6:52.504.
China took gold (6:51.106) ahead of Japan (6:51.173) and Hungary (6:52.326).
After winning two bronze medals on Saturday, Canada fell short of the podium in an individual distance on Sunday.
Steven Dubois is the one who came closest to getting there, finishing at the foot of the podium in the 500 meters with a fourth place, in 42.008 seconds.
The 25-year-old Canadian saw South Korean Tae Sung Kim block his way as he attempted an inside pass in hopes of moving from second to first, which meant he lost speed and any chance of a medal.
Kim was penalized for his gesture but the penalty had no impact on the ranking of the other skaters. The podium was made up of Chinese Lin Xiaojun (41.329) and Zhong Yuchen (41.549) as well as Japanese Kazuki Yoshinaga (41.750).
The Canadian short track team will wrap up its World Cup season with the sixth and final stop next weekend in Dordrecht, Netherlands.
It will then be the last international competition before the ISU World Short Track Championships which will take place from March 10 to 12 in Seoul.