Short track: Jordan Pierre-Gilles wins gold twice, Canada’s men’s 5,000m relay captures top spot
Canadian skater Jordan Pierre-Gilles captured two gold medals over the weekend in Beijing, taking home the top spot in two men’s 500m races at the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup.
In Saturday’s men’s 500m final, China’s Shoang Liu – the incoming World Cup leader – and countrymate Lin Xiaojun collided with each other to allow Pierre-Gilles to take the lead. The Sherbrooke, Que., native never looked back as he raced to gold ahead of Quentin Fercoq of France, and Jens van ‘T Wout of the Netherlands.
It was the second consecutive gold medal for Jordan Pierre-Gilles in the 500m-1 after his victory at the World Cup in Montreal.
On Sunday, the 25-year-old continued his strong skating in the distance in the men’s 500m-2, securing the victory once again, sneaking ahead of Canadian teammate Steven Dubois, who took silver — marking two of Canada’s three medal haul on the final day of competition. China’s Sun Long rounded out the podium in third.
“I’m super happy with my day and with my weekend as a whole. Three distances and three gold medals, what more could I ask for?” Pierre-Gilles said.
“I’m proud of the entire team too. We proved once again that we are the best team in the world in the relay, and in the 500m, it’s my third consecutive victory on the World Cup circuit. It gives me confidence and motivates me to keep up the hard work.”
After finding individual medals in the 500m, the duo of Pierre-Gilles and Dubois joined the Canadian men’s 5,000m team, lofting Canada to gold alongside Pascal Dion and William Dandjinou, finishing ahead of China, who took silver, and the South Koreans, who finished with bronze.
READ: Blais wins silver, Dubois secures bronze at World Cup in Montreal
In the men’s 1,500m, Montreal’s William Dandjinou put up a tough battle at the head of the race before securing third place. South Korean Gun Woo Kim won gold ahead of China’s Wenlong Li.
It’s the third individual World Cup medal of the 2023-24 season after Dandjinou took home gold, also in the 1,500m, at the World Cup in Montreal. He added a bronze in the 1000m in Montreal as well.
“I’m very happy with my day and what it means for the season. I’m trying to gain points for the Crystal Globe and had some good races, but I didn’t perform as well as I thought I could have during the final,” Dandjunou said post-race. “I stumbled a bit during a pass and got cut off mid-stride. Despite all of that, I still managed to win the bronze.”
Team Canada athletes will return to the track on Sunday for the second day of races in Beijing.
