St-Gelais wins second gold as short trackers claim four more medals in Dresden
Canadian short track speed skaters made four more trips to the podium in Dresden on Sunday, bringing their weekend World Cup total to eight medals.
With three Canadians among the five finalists in the women’s 500m, there was one podium finish guaranteed. Instead, they ended up with two. Marianne St-Gelais won her second gold medal of the weekend, adding to Saturday’s victory in the 1000m. In five World Cup stops this season, she now has four 500m medals, including two gold. Jamie Macdonald came through for the bronze medal, just the third individual podium finish of her two-year World Cup career. Earlier this season, she won 500m silver in Calgary. Kasandra Bradette ended up in fourth place after being taken out in a fall. South Korea’s Ye Jin Kim took the silver.
Marianne St-Gelais skates during the women 1,000 meters final race at the short track speed skating World Cup in Dresden, Germany on Feb. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
Read: Triple gold Saturday for Canadian short trackers in Dresden
Valerie Maltais earned her second bronze medal of the weekend, following up her third place finish in Saturday’s 1000m with another in the 1500m. It was the first time she had reached an A final in the distance this season. Kim Boutin, who had won the first 1500m in Dresden on Saturday, ended up in fifth place. Dutchwoman Suzanne Schulting won the gold ahead of South Korea’s Ah Rum Noh.
Valerie Maltais places third in 1,500m final at the World Cup short track speed skating championship in Dresden, eastern Germany, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
In the 3000m relay, the Canadian women reached the podium for the fourth time this season. The quartet of Boutin, St-Gelais, Maltais and Bradette crossed the line behind the Netherlands and Italy.
The men’s team was kept off the podium on Sunday, although Charles Hamelin had a near-miss, finishing fourth in the 500m by less than a tenth of a second.
The eight medals won makes this Canada’s second-best World Cup stop of the season. At the PyeongChang 2018 test event in mid-December, the team won nine medals, but only one of those was gold.
Read: Canadian short track team has biggest medal haul of season
There is one more World Cup stop on the 2016-17 calendar as the circuit heads to Minsk, Belarus next weekend. That will be followed by the most important competition of the season, the world championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands beginning March 10.
