It had been almost five years since skater Pascal Dion had been on an individual World Cup podium. The Quebecer ended his famine on Sunday in Beijing, where he was decorated with bronze in the 1000m. A certainly encouraging performance which validates all the work done since the 2019-20 season.
“It’s been a long journey! It’s been two years since I really feel like I’m progressing. We could not see it much with COVID-19, especially without participating in the World Championships [2021], but I saw my performances improve and it only remained to put that in place in the races ”, mentioned the Montrealer in videoconference at the end of the competition.
The least we can say is that the form was there for Dion who managed to make his way to the grand final, despite very strong waves. In the end, his speed and daring made the difference.
After eliminating the reigning world champion, Hungarian Shaolin Sandor Liu, in the semifinals, Dion ended his day by finishing third in the ultimate race, just behind South Korean Daeheon Hwang and Russian Semen Elistratov, first and second, in order.
“My plan was to run forward and not be afraid of sore legs. I did not hesitate to overtake several times at the start of the race to be well positioned in the last laps. I limited the errors and it paid off, ”said the man who won silver over the same distance in 2016, in Gangneung, South Korea.
Motivated by this second individual World Cup medal, Pascal Dion wishes to continue his momentum in future competitions, both individually and collectively with his teammates in the men’s 5000m relay. All without creating unnecessary expectations.
“I’m not the type of person who puts that kind of pressure on himself. I’m going to watch the races to see what I did well and what I did not so well to improve. We will work on training and we will see how the rest of things go. ”
Kim Boutin takes a first step
On the women’s side, Kim Boutin had the best Canadian result of the day by finishing fifth in the B final in the 1000m, while her compatriot Courtney Sarault was unable to make it through the quarter-finals. This performance thus concluded a weekend marked by adversity for the Sherbrookoise who was playing a first competition since February 2020.
Even though she admitted that she would have liked to be able to do herself justice in the 500m, where she was disqualified for a false start in the quarter-finals on Saturday, the three-time Olympic medalist draws a positive assessment of her time in Beijing.
“For me, it was mainly to find my feelings. It was a beautiful challenge and I got challenged in my way of running […] I’m a bit lacking in legs, but I think the more the year goes on, the better I’m going to feel. Mentally it’s going well and it remains to fine-tune the physical aspect, ”said Boutin, adding that she could put the 1500m aside for her next outings.
The 26-year-old skater also said she was optimistic to bounce back in the women’s 3000m relay with her teammates Danaé Blais, Alyson Charles and Courtney Sarault, with whom she took second place in the B final behind the Americans.
“This is not the desired result, but we did well nonetheless. We had good races and we are already seeing improvement. Now, it will be important to find our chemistry. This will be our big challenge because we have speed ”, she concluded.
A team ready to make sparks
The finals of the 2000m mixed relay were also presented on Sunday, at the conclusion of the event. Relegated after a hard-fought semi-final, the formation of the maple leaf, composed of Danaé Blais, William Dandjinou, Camille De Serres-Rainville and Maxime Laoun, completed their competition by taking third place in the B final behind Japan and Hungary.
The Canadian National Short Track Speed Skating Team now looks to the World Cup in Nagoya, Japan, which kicks off Thursday.