(Montreal) Maxime Laoun had to go through the 500m repechage. It was not a great success, as he fell in the second stage of the repechage at the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup presented in Montreal.
Neck to neck with the Pole Michal Niewinski, Laoun found himself sitting up while trying to go through the inside. The race was reviewed, but officials found nothing wrong with Niewinski, who moved to the quarter. Laoun’s fifth place thus held.
In the first repechage race, Laoun was also involved in an incident with two other skaters. The American Marcus Howard lost his balance right in front of the Canadian, dragging him and the Belgian Ward Petre into the cushions. Petre, who appeared to injure his neck, was unable to start when the race resumed.
Howard was sanctioned by the officials and was excluded from the event. Laoun had dominated the restart from start to finish.
Several skaters in the running
Several Canadians will attempt to add to the country’s meager medal haul after the first day of competition in the afternoon.
Three skaters will participate in the quarter-finals in the 500m: Florence Brunelle, Rikki Doak and Renée Steenge. Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Félix Roussel will be competing among the men.
Danaé Blais, Claudia Gagnon and Courtney Sarault will participate in the second 1000m of the weekend. Steven Dubois will try to add to his silver medal — the only one in the country — collected the day before. He will be accompanied by Pascal Dion and William Dandjinou.
Canada will also be competing in the relay A finals. In the women’s 3000m, he will face the Netherlands, South Korea and the United States. In the men’s 5000m, his opponents will be China, South Korea and Japan.