William Dandjinou, Félix Roussel and Steven Dubois celebrated the resumption of activities in the short track speed skating World Cup circuit in style by all three climbing onto the podium on Saturday in Dresden, Germany.
Dandjinou was the first to stand out by winning the 1500m in brilliant fashion. Patient, the skater from Sherbrooke executed his strategy to perfection by exploding with three laps to go to break away from his rivals.
They reacted immediately, but they were never able to catch up. Dandjinou thus sped alone towards victory ahead of the Belgian Stijn Desmet and the South Korean Kim Gun Woo, not failing to go with his usual celebration by imitating the flapping of a bird’s wings after crossing the line. arrival.
“I feel very good and I’m happy to be back on the podium! It’s a bit of a surprise, because I didn’t expect to have so many legs after Friday. However, we made some adjustments with the coaches and I am very happy to remain in the race for the crystal globe,” mentioned Dandjinou, provisionally third with 704 points in the cumulative World Cup ranking thanks to this sixth individual medal. of the season.
Not far behind during the same final, Pascal Dion attempted an attack at the entrance to the last corner, but his passage was blocked, thereby losing a few rungs to end up in sixth place.
For their part, Félix Roussel and Steven Dubois were in the grand final in the 1000m, where they respectively ranked second and third at the end of one of the fastest races won by the South Korean Park Ji-Won.
“I am proud of the medal and of now having one on each distance this season, but above all I remember that I learned a lot about myself after having raced without complexes with two of the best skaters in the world”, commented Roussel after his day of work.
It motivates me for the future to see what I need to go for gold and I feel rewarded for the efforts of the last few months!
Felix Roussel
By virtue of this new gold medal, Park Ji-Won (781 points) increased his lead at the top of the ranking for the crystal globe ahead of Steven Dubois (753 points) and William Dandjinou.
Also in action among the men in Dresden, Jordan Pierre-Gilles skated in the B final over 1000 m and is in tenth place in the general classification, while Philippe Daudelin, who was experiencing his baptism of fire in the World Cup, finished 32e in the 1500 m after suffering elimination during the quarter-finals.
Kim Boutin fifth in the 1000m
Saturday also marked the international return of Kim Boutin after a beneficial break to discuss her studies. Despite an absence of several months, the Sherbrookoise showed nothing on the ice and she did not miss the opportunity to make her presence felt in the 1000 m.
The four-time Olympic medalist reached the grand final, but was unable to finish the event on the podium, finishing fifth at the finish.
Her teammate Claudia Gagnon flew through the B final to finish sixth in the event. Danaé Blais did the same in the B final over 1500 m and she is eighth in the general classification.
Also on this trip for the European World Cup tour, Florence Brunelle had to withdraw from competition on Friday due to injury.
Note that Steven Dubois, Claudia Gagnon, William Dandjinou and Félix Roussel also skated in the mixed relay where Canada finished third in the B final, which gave it seventh place in the event.
The women’s relay (3000 m) ended the day in style by obtaining its ticket for the A final which will take place on Sunday. The men’s relay (5000 m) will skate in the B final after being penalized in the semi-final. Individual events over 500m and 1500m will also be contested at the end of this World Cup.