BEIJING, CHINA – It was a four medal day for Canada at the ISU World Short Track Championships in Beijing, as Steven Dubois, William Dandjinou and the women’s 3000m relay team each earned world titles, while Courtney Sarault won 1000m silver.
Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.) returned to the podium at the Capital Indoor Stadium, the same rink where he earned three Olympic medals at Beijing 2022. The 27-year-old grabbed the lead in the 500m final with an explosive start from the inner most position and never looked back, holding off a hard charging Denis Nikisha of Kazakhstan to claim gold with a time of 40.008. Nikisha settled for second (40.096), while Jens van ‘T Wout of the Netherlands was third (40.163).
Dubois, who captured 500m silver at the same event in 2023, joins fellow Canadian skaters Charles Hamelin (2), François-Louis Tremblay (2) and Olivier Jean (1) as world champions in the distance.
“It was the only medal missing in my career. I had silver and bronze in individual distances at the World Championships, and had all three at the Olympic Games, so I was really looking forward to winning this one. I felt super confident all throughout the year and think I had some very consistent results. For me to finally be clutch and take it home now feels amazing,” shared Steven Dubois.
Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.), the reigning men’s Crystal Globe winner, continued his dominance in the 1500m – a distance in which he reached the World Tour podium five times this season – by bringing home the second World Championship title of his young career. He becomes the first Canadian to capture the 1500m crown since Charles Hamelin earned the top spot during the COVID-19 shortened 2021 season.
The 23-year-old was bumped to the back of the pack with nine laps remaining in Saturday’s final but built his speed back up and passed five other skaters to regain the lead, before breaking away and cruising to victory. He crossed the finish line with a time of 2:15.064, putting him ahead of Belgium’s Stijn Desmet (2:15.176) and hometown favourite Liu Shaoang (2:15.871).
“I was super happy with my level of execution today; it was probably my best 1500m of the season. I am happy to share a world title with my teammate Steven and with the girls’ relay team. We’ve been building momentum as a team this season, so celebrating our titles together is amazing! Now we must remain focused on the elements that make us good so we can get the most out of our performances tomorrow,” said William Dandjinou.
The Canadian women also brought home some hardware during the first day of finals at the season-ending competition.
Sarault posted a time of 1:28.929 in an action packed 1000m final to earn silver. Belgium’s Hanne Desmet (1:28.641) was victorious, while Dutch speedster Xandra Velzeboer took bronze (1:28.991). It marked a return to the World Championship podium for the Moncton native, who captured bronze in the 1000m in both 2021 and 2023.
“I feel really amazing about today. Towards the end of the season, I was getting my confidence back and everything was coming together again. I felt way healthier and more fit than I had all year. I knew it was going to take a bit of time, so with this competition I didn’t set big expectations. I knew I could achieve good things but I wasn’t sure if my racing would be as good as it normally is. I knew deep down that if I did everything I could and enjoyed the process that the results would come,” said Courtney Sarault.
Sarault ended the day with gold, teaming up with Kim Boutin (Sherbrooke, Que.), Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.) and Rikki Doak (Fredericton, N.B.) to bring home the women’s 3000m relay title. The Canadians, who were near the front of the pack for much of the race, overtook Poland with three laps remaining to secure gold with a time of 4:09.254. The Polish team earned silver (4:09.321), while the Dutch rounded out the podium in bronze medal position (4:09.392).
“We worked really hard as a team to get to this point, so it’s really nice to see our hard work paying off and leading us to a gold medal. Being able to medal twice today, especially here in Beijing, has just been super special,” shared Courtney Sarault.
The ISU World Short Track Championships come to an end tomorrow, when titles will be awarded in the men’s 1000m and 5000m relay, the women’s 500m and 1500m, as well and the 2000m mixed relay. Races will be live streamed on CBC Sports digital platforms beginning at 2:00am ET.
Results
Men’s 500m
- Steven Dubois: 1st
- William Dandjinou: 10th
- Jordan Pierre-Gilles: 20th
Women’s 1000m
- Courtney Sarault: 2nd
- Florence Brunelle: 17th
- Danaé Blais: 21st (DNS)
Men’s 1500m
- William Dandjinou: 1st
- Felix Roussel: 8th
- Maxime Laoun: 56th (YC)
Relays
- Women’s: 1st
CONTACT
Alain Brouillette
Speed Skating Canada
communications@speedskating.ca
613-601-2630