Ice Maples captured overall team title; Canadian skaters atop rankings in three individual distances and in both men’s and women’s relays
MILAN, ITALY – The Canadian Ice Maples capped off a tremendously successful international campaign by bringing home the inaugural Team Crystal Globe, awarded to the top nation on the ISU Short Track World Tour.
Canada earned three medals on the final day of World Tour racing in Milan, raising their season total to 37 medals across six events, including a record 21 gold. The Ice Maples’ 8,731 points gave them a sizeable lead over their closest competitors, second place finishers the Dutch Lions (6,919 points), to capture the coveted Crystal Globe.
Canada kicked off Sunday’s racing with their fourth medal of the season in the 2000m mixed relay, as Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.), Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.), Félix Roussel (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Jordan Pierre-Gilles (Sherbrooke, Que.) raced to a third place finish. After a lengthy video review, the Italian Gladiators were penalized for making contact in the straight, a decision that elevated the Canadians (2:38.187) into silver medal position. The Dutch Lions (2:38.005) were the victors, helping them finish the season ranked first overall with a 70 point lead over the Ice Maples, while the Japanese Ninjas (2:38.339) benefited from the official’s call to earn bronze.
William Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.) then put forth a masterful performance in the 1000m final, controlling the race from the front and holding off hard charging hometown favourite Pietro Sighel (1:23.119) to bring home gold in his last individual distance of the season. The Canadian (1:23.025) and Italian were joined on the podium by Korea’s Sungwoo Jang (1:23.220).
The Ice Maples reached the podium in the men’s relay to finish off the day, as Dandjinou, Roussel, Pierre-Gilles and Maxime Laoun (Montreal, Que.) battled a crowded field of five teams to capture silver (6:42.878). Italy (6:42.822) scored the gold, while Kazakhstan (6:46.068) earned bronze.
“The last two weeks have been difficult with the yellow cards and some overall fatigue, so being able to conclude the World Tour with a gold is amazing. Short track is a beautiful sport. You can go up fast and you can go down fast, so you’ve got to enjoy the moments. I wouldn’t have predicted that I would win the Crystal Globe at all, but with our team I knew it was possible. It’s always hard to know what the international level is going to be, no matter how prepared we are. But I saw what we are able to do in the summer and how hard we were working, and I knew we would be in contention. It’s an individual sport, but it’s a team sport as well and I’m just happy to be here celebrating with my team now.” Shared William Dandjinou.
“I’m very proud of the team. This year, we started doing things a little differently and working more as a team. All the guys respect each other, which gives them the opportunity to be vulnerable and help each other out. The girls are getting into this as well now. This keeps everyone working as a team, instead of as individuals. You give and you receive, and it created good energy. This good spirit gives us momentum for what we’ve been doing since the beginning of the summer, going for that Crystal Globe. If you’d asked me before the season, I would have said that that we will give it a hell of a try. I was confident of the fact that we had a good chance.” Explained Marc Gagnon.
Sunday’s results mirrored the consistent performances that helped Canadian skaters finish the World Tour campaign ranked within the top 3 in seven individual distances, as well as in all three relays.
Dandjinou became the first Canadian to win the men’s Crystal Globe as the season’s top skater, earning 10 medals (8 gold, 2 silver) and finishing first overall in both the 1500m and 1000m, and second in the 500m.
Dubois clinched the 500m title, while Pierre-Gilles finished in a three-way tie for third in the distance. On the women’s side, Blais was third overall in the 1000m and Brunelle was third in the 500m.
The women’s relay team medalled three times to finish the season ranked first overall, while silver from the men in Milan helped them narrowly edge out China atop the standings. Meanwhile, Canada’s mixed relay squad had a breakthrough season, earning four medals to rank second overall.
The international short track season concludes next month with the ISU World Short Track Championships in Beijing from March 14-16. Canada captured four medals at last season’s World Championships, including career-first titles for Dandjinou in the men’s 1000m and for Boutin in the women’s 500m.
Results
Women’s 500m
- Florence Brunelle: 5th
- Danaé Blais: 6th
- Kim Boutin: 16th
Men’s 1000m
- William Dandjinou: 1st
- Félix Roussel: 9th
- Steven Dubois: 10th
Women’s 1500m
- Claudia Gagnon: 9th
- Ann-Sophie Bachand: 20th
- Courtney Sarault: 21st
Relay
- Mixed: 2nd
- Men’s: 2nd
CONTACT
Alain Brouillette
Speed Skating Canada
communications@speedskating.ca
613-601-2630