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MONTREAL — Courtney Sarault and Steven Dubois won silver medals for Canada on the second day of the inaugural ISU Four Continents short-track speedskating championship on Sunday.
Sarault, of Moncton, N.B., finished second in the women’s 1,000-metre race and claimed the third spot in the weekend’s overall classification, at an event dominated by South Korea.
Dubois, of Lachenaie, Que. won silver in the men’s 1,000 and ranked second overall after the two-day event.
The Canadians won six individual medals over the weekend — five silver and one bronze.
Canada’s women and men’s relay teams also both claimed silver on Sunday.
South Korea’s Choi Min Jeong and Hwang Dae Heon controlled the competition from start to finish. Choi won all four of her races for a complete sweep of the women’s podiums while Dae Heon won three golds. The South Koreans ended the weekend with 15 individual medals, including eight gold. They also won both team relays.
The women’s 1,000 final saw Sarault cross the finish line in 1:33.014, behind Choi, in 1:32.712. Montreal’s Alyson Charles finished fifth.
Sarault held her own against three South Korean skaters and her teammate Charles. The Canadian was third with two laps to go when she made a bold double move on the outside to take the lead, before being passed by Choi on the final lap.
The silver was Sarault’s second medal of the weekend after claiming bronze in the 500 on Saturday. The 19-year-old also has three individual World Cup medals this short-track season.
Dubois earned his third silver medal of the event when he finished second in the men’s 1,000 in 1:27.897. With two laps to go, Dubois found an extra gear and jumped from last place into second behind Hwang, who finished in 1:27.719.
Five-time Olympic medallist Charles Hamelin, of Ste-Julie, Que., narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth by two one-hundredths of a second behind South Korea’s Park Ji Won.
Canada failed to medal in the rarely seen 3,000-metre super final. Hamelin finished fourth while Dubois came in sixth on the men’s side. Sarault was fifth and Charles seventh for the women.
Canadian star Kim Boutin, who is suffering from a tendinitis in her left knee, withdrew from the competition for precautionary reasons.
Notes: Next up for the Canadians is the World Cup in Dresden, Germany beginning Feb. 7. … Canada has claimed 13 individual and five team medals on the current World Cup circuit.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2020.
Kelsey Patterson, The Canadian Press
