Winner of Saturday’s 500m at the Beijing Short Track Speed Skating World Cup, Jordan Pierre-Gilles won the second 500m contested on Sunday. He then added a third gold medal to the tally alongside his teammates in the men’s 5000m relay, William Dandjinou, Pascal Dion and Steven Dubois.
Dubois was not to be outdone on an individual level either, as he finished second behind his teammate in the 500m.
“I’m super happy with my day… my entire weekend in fact! » commented Pierre-Gilles, in a statement sent by his national federation. “Three distances and three gold medals, so what more could you ask for? I am very proud of my team. We proved once again in the relay that we were the best team in the world. »
It was Steven Dubois who took the leading position in the 500m final. Behind, Pierre-Gilles was fourth with two laps to go before brilliantly maneuvering to get behind the Quebecer at the start of the last lap. Dubois came out a little wide from the last turn and Pierre-Gilles dove into the opening to beat the Lachenaie skater by 29 thousandths of a second. Chinese Sun Long completed the trio of medalists.
Reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 5000m relay on this same ice a year and a half ago, Canada was able to keep its cool at the end of the event, because gold was still far from being acquired. With four laps remaining, Steven Dubois gained his team two places to catch up with China, still in the lead. William Dandjinou took control of the race at the exit of the penultimate turn while behind the Chinese and Dutch torchbearers found themselves in the mats.
Maxime Laoun and Félix Roussel were also medalists for having skated in the previous rounds. The Koreans took silver and the Chinese took bronze.
In the 1000m final, William Dandjinou was the first to cross the finish line, except that he was penalized for a change of line in a turn and which caused the fall of the Dutchman Jens van ‘T Wout. The Montrealer was therefore relegated in the ranking, opening the door to the first step of the podium for the Chinese Liu Shaoang.
Canada was also a finalist in the women’s 3000m relay and finished second, except that the team composed of Danaé Blais, Florence Brunelle, Claudia Gagnon and Renee Marie Steenge was penalized. Officials ruled that Steenge caused obstruction on a Korean, when she was not yet on the course before taking over from Brunelle.
Claudia Gagnon and Florence Brunelle both advanced to the 1000m B final where they placed third and fifth respectively.
The short track speed skating World Cup circuit remains in Asia and will stop in Seoul next weekend.
