(Montreal) The first Short Track Speed Skating World Cup did not get off to a great start as Steven Dubois hoped.
The skater from Terrebonne, triple medalist from the last Winter Olympics, finished third in his heat in the 1000m on Friday and will have to go through the repechage on Saturday morning.
Dubois lost his balance on the penultimate lap, while in second place in his heat. He was unable to close the gap to qualify directly by finishing in the top two, positions occupied by Chinese Shaoang Liu and Italian Pietro Sighel.
Dubois, bronze medalist over this distance at the last Worlds, won gold in the 5000m relay, silver in the 1500m, as well as bronze in the 500m at the Beijing Winter Games in February 2022.
The start went more smoothly for his colleague William Dandjinou, who won his qualifying wave ahead of Kazakh Adil Aliakhmedov. Pascal Dion also passed by virtue of his second place.
In the 1500m quarter-finals, only Félix Roussel came out of the quarter-final heats. He won his heat in two minutes and 16.851 seconds (2:16.851).
Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Maxime Laoun, however, were unable to reach the semi-finals. Pierre-Gilles finished fourth in his heat in 2:24.491, while Laoun fell and did not post a time.
Among the women, the three Canadians registered in the 1000m reached the quarter-finals without going through the repechage. Courtney Sarault and Renée Steenge finished first in their heat, while Florence Brunelle took second place.
In the 1500m, two representatives of the maple leaf obtained their qualification, while Claudia Gagnon and Danaé Blais finished second in their respective heat. Rikki Doak, who fell, was eliminated in this first stage.
