(Almaty) Canada’s Courtney Sarault has capped a dominating performance by winning gold in the 1,000m event at the third stage of the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup held in Almaty, Kazakhstan this weekend.
In Final A, the 22-year-old from Moncton covered the distance in one minute and 32.671 seconds, beating South Korea’s Shim Suk-hee (1:32.770). American Corinne Stoddard (1:33.025) completed the podium.
Restricted to competing in Final B, Sherbrooke’s Kim Boutin received a penalty that relegated her to fourth and final place in that race.
On her way to her first World Cup gold medal of the season, suburban Detroit-born Sarault won every wave she competed in, leading up to the Final A. Sarault notably posted a time of 1:28.882 in the quarterfinals, the best time of the entire competition.
On November 6, Sarault won the silver medal over the same distance at the Utah Olympic Oval.
The 1,000 meter distance brought two more medals to the Canadian delegation on Saturday. Quebecers Pascal Dion and Jordan Pierre-Gilles finished second and third, respectively, behind Dutchman Jens van’T Wout (1:26.074).
Dion crossed the finish line in 1:26.147, exactly two tenths of a second ahead of his compatriot.
Canada had less success in the 1,500 meters. In the women’s final, Danaë Blais (2:27.487) had to settle for fifth place. In the men’s category, William Dandjinou (2:17.690) was the best Canadian with fourth place in the B final.
Also, the quartet of Dandjinou, Rikki Doak, Pierre-Gilles and Sarault were penalized in the second wave of the 2000m mixed relay semifinals.
The competition concludes on Sunday and Canada is already guaranteed a spot in the A-finals of the women’s 3,000m relay and the men’s 5,000m relay.
In addition to these relays, races over 500 meters and 1500 meters for women and men will also be presented on Sunday.
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