Silver medalist in the 500 meters on Saturday, Steven Dubois added another individual medal to his collection of the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Seoul, a bronze on Sunday in the 1000 m.
Kim Boutin and Claudia Gagnon also took third place on the podium as they skated in the women’s relay final alongside Renee Marie Steenge and Courtney Sarault. The latter brought another bronze medal for the country in the individual 1000m event.
Canada concludes these World Championships with a harvest of six medals, without however winning a world title.
In the men’s 1,000m, Dubois finished third behind South Korean and 1,500m winner Park Ji Won and Belgium’s Stijn Desmet. The Quebecer was fourth coming out of the last corner and it was by stretching his right leg to the maximum that he managed to deprive South Korean Hong Kyung Hwan of bronze by only 2 thousandths of a second.
“I would have thought the race would have been faster, so I waited behind. I had my chance to come back up, but I didn’t take it. So I knew I had to wait for the last two laps,” commented Dubois, who started in the outside lane.
“I managed to snatch third place and I’m quite happy about that, because the last three laps were very fast. I’m happy with my day and to finish with the bronze, because the 1000m is a bit of a pet peeve. »
Accessing the grand final was complicated for the triple Olympic medalist from Terrebonne. Ranked fourth in his semi-final, he was promoted to the final following the disqualification of a Latvian opponent.
Pascal Dion and Félix Roussel respectively finished 14e and 22e.
In the women’s relay, the Canadians finished behind the Dutch and South Koreans. Courtney Sarault was tentatively second behind the Netherlands by five laps, but that only held for one lap as a South Korean retook second place after a tight pass on the New Brunswicker. Even medalists, the Canadian torchbearers were restrained in their post-race comments.
“We all agree that we can do better, acknowledged Kim Boutin. Today [dimanche], it’s a disappointment, but we had a great season. I believe we can be proud of what we have accomplished this season. Today wasn’t our day, but I feel like it’s coming. »
Claudia Gagnon was an individual finalist when she finished fourth in the 1,000m, one spot behind Sarault. Gagnon was snagged by Dutchman Suzanne Schulting with three laps to go and lost contact with the lead group. Schulting was penalized following this incident, which caused the Quebecer to drop from fifth to fourth place.
PHOTO KIM HONG-JI, REUTERS
Courtney Sarault and Claudia Gagnon
Kim Boutin placed fifth in the B final, good for tenth in the standings.
The Canadian men’s relay composed of Pascal Dion, Steven Dubois, Maxime Laoun and Jordan Pierre-Gilles had bad luck in the grand final. With three laps to go, Pierre-Gilles hooked his blades with a South Korean runner in an attempt to pass on the outside and he crashed. The Canadians still completed the event, but almost 6 seconds behind the race which was won by China.
Jordan Pierre-Gilles, Félix Roussel, Courtney Sarault and Rikki Doak teamed up in the mixed relay to finish the B final in fourth place.