Charle Cournoyer, Samuel Girard finish 1-2, Jamie Macdonald wins silver at the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating stage held in Calgary
Speed Skating Canada – Calgary, November 6, 2016 – Charle Cournoyer and Samuel Girard finished 1-2 in the men’s 1000m while Jamie Macdonald earned her best career result at the international level by coming up with a silver medal in the 500m, Sunday, on the last day of the ISU World Cup Short Track Speed Skating stage held at Calgary’s Olympic Oval.
By finishing first in Sunday’s 1000m, Charle Cournoyer (Boucherville, QC) came up with a second straight win and a fourth consecutive podium result in that distance in World Cups. The 25-year-old athlete concluded the 2015-2016 season by winning a silver medal in that event in the World Cup in Shanghai, then a bronze in Dresden and gold in Dordrecht.
“After a disappointing day Saturday (he was eliminated in the 1500m semifinals), I’m happy to return on the podium so quickly,” said Charle Cournoyer. “I’m quite satisfied, it makes for a good start to the season and team spirit couldn’t be better. The race with Sam (Girard) showed quite well how great our team spirit is.”
Charle Cournoyer overtook Samuel Girard with a little more than one lap to go, and the two Canadian skaters showed great sportsmanship.
“I wanted to win the race, but I mostly wanted to do a clean move on Samuel, and have as little impact as possible on his pace,” said Charle Cournoyer. “If the opportunity to overtake had not presented itself, I would have been quite happy to stay back and work to protect our two spots up front.”
“If it had been a skater from another country, I may have tried to block him. But the important thing was that Canada take the first two spots,” said Samuel Girard (Ferland-et-Boilleau, QC), who earned the fifth podium result of his career on the World Cup circuit, including his second this weekend following his gold medal in Saturday’s first 500m event.
“It’s a great medal, which feels a little bit golden considering Charle (Cournoyer) finished first and we finished only a fraction of a second apart,” said the 20-year-old skater who also won a silver medal in the 1000m at last spring’s World Championships. “I’m really happy, especially after having done well in a high-evel semifinal with some great skaters.”
“I went two-for-two and that goes beyond the goals I had set for myself,” he said. “I was aiming for a medal in the 500m, but only for a spot in the final in the 1000m.”
Second career podium for Jamie Macdonald
By coming up with the silver medal in the second women’s 500m slated over the weekend, Jamie Macdonald (Fort St. James, B.C.) earned her best result so far on the World Cup circuit. The 21-year-old skater won her first career individual medal, a bronze in the 1000m, at the sixth and last stage of last season’s World Cup.
On Sunday, Jamie Macdonald finished behind Great Britain’s Elise Christie, the winner of the women’s 500m (2), by less than half a second, and she skated ahead of Dutch skater Yara van Kerkhof, who was third, by only 0.046 seconds.
“It feels awesome,” said Macdonald. “My parents were here, as well as my grand parents and my sister. I’m really glad I was able to share this with them.”
“It was a fast race right from the start and knew I would have to go fast to maintain my position,” said Macdonald about her performance in the 500m (2) final. “I tried to chase down Elise (Christie) as much as I could, but most importantly, I was able to stay solid and keep my feet moving, so I was able to maintain my speed.”
Kasandra Bradette (Saint-Félicien, QC) qualified for the B final in the same event, but was unable to take part in the race due to an injury.
In the women’s 1000m, Kim Boutin (Sherbrooke, QC) finished fourth in the A final, only 0.003 seconds away from Dutch skater Suzanne Schulting, who collected bronze. Minjeong Choi and Suk Hee Shim of South Korea respectively won the gold and silver medals. Valérie Maltais (Saguenay, La Baie borough, QC) was second in the B final, good for 6th place overall.
Although disappointed she came so close to winning a medal, Kim Boutin said she was satisfied with her progress so far this season, after coming back from an injury that forced her to miss the last two World Cup stages and the World Championships last spring.
“I’m going about it one step at a time,” said the 21-year-old skater. “I’m happy with my race today (in the final), I followed my race plan. I just didn’t quite have enough legs at the end. But I gave it everything I had.”
The Canadian team therefore won five individual medals in Calgary this weekend. On Saturday, in addition to Samuel Girard’s gold in the 500m (1), Marianne St-Gelais collected silver in the same distance on the women’s side.
A disappointing day for Charles Hamelin and Marianne St-Gelais
Charles Hamelin (Sainte-Julie, QC) saw his road in the 1000m end at the quarterfinal stage when he was penalized for a foul committed on France’s Thibaut Fauconnet. Eliminated in the quarterfinals of Saturday’s 500m (1) due to a fall, the veteran skater who finished second overall at last spring’s World Championships therefore saw his streak of World Cup stages with at least one medal stopped at nine. The last time he did not win at least one medal over a World Cup weekend was at the second stage of the 2014-2015 season, in Montreal.
Winner of a silver medal in Saturday’s 500m (1), Marianne St-Gelais (Saint-Félicien, QC) was eliminated in the 1000m semifinal round on Sunday, as she had to settle for sixth spot in her heat as she didn’t feel well.
In the relay, the women’s team comprised of Jamie Macdonald, Valérie Maltais, Marie-Ève Drolet and Kim Boutin, and the men’s squad comprised of Charles Hamelin, Charle Cournoyer, Samuel Girard and Pascal Dion both had to settle for fourth place in their respective A finals, as both teams saw a skater fall during the race, especially on the men’s side when Hamelin had a contact with a skater from Hungary.
The second stage of the 2016-2017 World Cup season will take place Nov. 11-13 in Salt Lake City, U.S.A.
More details are available on Speed Skating Canada’s website at www.speedskating.ca/fr/calgary2016.
TODAY’S CANADIAN RESULTS
500m (2) F
Jamie Macdonald: silver medal (final ranking: 2)
Kasandra Bradette: did not take part in the B Final due to an injury (final ranking: 8)
Marie-Ève Drolet: fourth in the quarterfinals and eliminated (final ranking: 15)
500m (2) W
Pascal Dion: 3rd in the quarterfinals and eliminated (final ranking: 9)
William Preudhomme: 5th in the quarterfinals and eliminated (final ranking: 18)
François Hamelin: 5th in the quarterfinals and eliminated (final ranking: 20)
1000m W
Kim Boutin: 4th in the A Final (final ranking: 4)
Valérie Maltais: 2nd in the B Final (final ranking: 6)
Marianne St-Gelais: 6th in the semifinals and eliminated (final ranking: 11)
1000m M
Charle Cournoyer: gold medal (final ranking: 1)
Samuel Girard: silver medal (final ranking: 2)
Charles Hamelin: penalty in the quarterfinals and eliminated (final ranking: 23)
Women’s Relay
4th in the A Final (final ranking: 4)
(Marianne St-Gelais, Valérie Maltais, Kim Boutin, Kasandra Bradette, Marie-Ève Drolet, Jamie Macdonald)
Men’s Relay
4th in the A Final (final ranking: 4)
(Charles Hamelin, Charle Cournoyer, Samuel Girard, Pascal Dion, François Hamelin)
About the 2016 ISU Short Track World Cup in Calgary
The 2016 ISU World Cup in Short Track Speed Skating, to be held Nov. 4-6 at Calgary’s Olympic Oval, will feature the top short track speed skaters in the world at the first stage of a season that will include six World Cup weekends.
The organizing committee for the 2016 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary would like to thank its partners and sponsors, including Alberta Sport Connection, Intact Insurance, Sport Canada, The City of Calgary and Tourism Calgary.
More details and tickets are available at http://www.speedskating.ca/fr/calgary2016.
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Kerry Dankers
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Ryan Ohashi
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Olympic Oval | University of Calgary
2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
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