Last week at the Beijing World Cup, short track speed skater Pascal Dion stepped onto an individual World Cup podium for the first time in five years. Sunday, at the stage in Nagoya (Japan), wasted no time in repeating this feat, while he was decorated with bronze over the same distance.
Later in the day, his teammates Steven Dubois, Charles Hamelin and Jordan Pierre-Gilles won in the 5,000-meter relay in a tough race.
“I had never been confident in my individual international races. I’ve been working on my weak spots for the past two years and it has shown, Dion explained. [À l’entraînement], I pushed myself to pass when my legs hurt and to go forward when it was difficult. There, I am a little more convincing in the strategies that I want to do in the race. ”
Dion was at the back of the pack in that 1,000-meter final and moved up to fourth with six laps to go. Hungarian Shaolin Sandor Liu crashed when he had just taken control of the race. Behind, Dion battled with American Brandon Kim, whom he finally beat to take the last step of the podium.
“I feel really good and am really happy with the turn of events. In the 1000 meters, I did some great races. I proved it two weekends in a row and I was really consistent, added the Montrealer. I still make small mistakes sometimes, so I can’t go for a first or second place. I’ve learned that I can overtake at important times and that I have little things to work on for the next two World Cups. ”
Steven Dubois dares and Canada wins
The last torchbearer in the Canadian men’s relay, Steven Dubois, showed a lot of guts at the end of the race. While a Hungarian was behind him, the Quebecer was provisionally second behind a Chinese whom he managed to pass from the outside in the last corner and blow him the victory by 13 thousandths of a second.
In the following seconds, the Lachenaie skater did not even take the time to catch his breath to jump into the arms of his teammates who remained in the center of the ice. The Hungarians placed third.
“In the exchange before, I saw that the Chinese was losing his footing, a sign that he was not totally in control. I had the legs I wanted and I waited for him to slow down a bit. I saw the space outside and I went there, ”Dubois said.
It was the worst ice cream in years, but also the time when everyone [de l’équipe] was the most solid. We were going there to win!
Steven dubois
The athlete said he felt more confident than at the Beijing stage last week, and that’s what he said made the difference. He says he is patient before getting on a first individual podium this season.
This victory in the relay makes us forget his disappointment on Saturday when he was second in the 500 meters before being disqualified by the officials for having harmed an opponent.
“Last year, I had a lot of bronze medals, so now I want to go for other colors. At the end of the week, I had my best times in the 500 meters and I was in the only ones under 41 seconds. I was going there to win. ”
The hard-fought women’s 1000-meter final where the Canadians Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarrault took on two Dutch and one American. Sarrault stayed in the top two for the first half of the race, so de Boutin remained in fifth place in the fast-paced race that crowned American Kristen Santos. Fourth, Sarrault was ahead of his compatriot by one rank.
In the 2000-meter mixed relay, Alyson Charles, William Dandjinou, Camille De Serres-Rainville and Maxime Laoun took third place in the B final. The Canadian women’s relay was penalized in the semi-final on Saturday.