Canadian Olympic silver medalist Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Courtney Lee Sarault of Moncton, New Brunswick each won two gold medals at a Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan this past weekend. Sarault won a gold medal in the Women’s 1000 Metre Short Track Speed Skating World Cup event on Saturday, and Boutin won a gold medal in the Women’s 500 Metre Short Track Speed Skating World Cup event on Sunday. Sarault and Boutin then teamed up to win gold in the Women’s 3000 metre relay with Rikki Doak of Fredericton, New Brunswick and Claudia Gagnon of La Baie, Quebec on Sunday.
Sarault had a winning time of 1:32.671. Suk Hee Shim of South Korea won the silver medal with a time of 1:32.77. Corinne Stoddard of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 1:33.025. Sarault earned a podium spot by .434 seconds over Anna Seidel of Germany, who finished in fourth place with a time of 1:33.105. Sarault now leads the World Cup women’s 1000 metre standings with 216 points. Shim is in second with 204 points.
Boutin, who won the Olympic silver in the women’s 1000 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, had a winning time of 43.02 seconds. Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 43.115 seconds. Kristen Santos-Griswold of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 43.254 seconds. Boutin reached the podium by 0.461 seconds over Yara van Kerkhof of the Netherlands, who had a time of 43.481 seconds. Boutin is third in the World Cup women’s 500 metre standings with 200 points. Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands is the World Cup leader with 236 points.
In the women’s 3000 metre relay, the Canadian gold medal winning time was 4:10.479. The Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 4:16.038. South Korea won the bronze medal with a time of 4:22.605. Canada reached the podium by 12.149 seconds over China, who had a fourth place time of 4:22.673. Canada leads the World Cup women’s 3000 metre relay standings with 260 points. The Netherlands are in second place with 240 points.
Team Canada won another gold medal. In the men’s 5000 metre relay final on Sunday, Felix Roussel of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Canadian Olympic gold medalists Steven Dubois of Laval, Quebec, Maxime Laoun of Montreal, Quebec, and Jordan Pierre-Gilles of Sherbrooke, Quebec, posted a time of 6:56.201. South Korea won the silver medal with a time of 6:56.453. Japan won the bronze medal with a time of 6:57.289. Canada earned a medal by 7.782 seconds over Italy, which had a fourth place time of 7:03.983. In the World Cup men’s 5000 metre relay standings, Canada leads with 270 points. South Korea is in second with 260 points. Dubois, Laoun and Gilles won the gold medal in the men’s 5000 metre relay at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Canada won four more World Cup short track speed skating medals in Almaty. In the men’s 1000 metres on Saturday, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Pascal Dion of Montreal and Pierre-Gilles won the silver medal and bronze medals respectively. Dion, who also won a gold medal in the men’s 5000 metre relay at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. had a time of 1:26.147 and Pierre-Gilles had a time of 1:26.347. Jens van ‘T Wout of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 1:26.074. Dion earned a medal by 0.308 seconds and Pierre-Gilles earned a medal by 0.108 seconds over Wenlong Li of China who had a fourth place time of 1:26.455. Dion leads the World Cup men’s 1000 metre standings with 230 points. Ji Won Park of South Korea is second with 188 points. Pierre-Gilles is in fifth place with 130 points.
In the women’s 1500 metres on Sunday, Sarault won the silver medal with a time of 2:26.752. Hanne Desmet of Belgium won the gold medal with a time of 2:26.692. Seidel won the bronze medal with a time of 2:27.036. Shim finished in fourth place with a time of 2:27.235. Sarault earned a medal by 0.483 seconds over Shim. In the Women’s 1500 metres World Cup standings, Sarault is in fifth with 162 points. Gilli Kim of South Korea leads with 250 points.
Finally, in the men’s 1500 metres on Sunday, Dion won the bronze medal with a time of 2:20.545. Park won the gold medal with a time of 2:20.34 seconds. Kyung Hwan Hong of South Korea won the silver medal with a time of 2:20.400 seconds. Dion earned a medal by 0.121 seconds over Canadian William Dandjinou of Sherbrooke, Quebec, who had a time of 2:20.666. Dion is in fifth place in the World Cup men’s 1500 metre standings with 117 points. Hong leads with 310 points. The weekend medals for Dion, Sarault, Boutin, Doak, Gagnon, Pierre-Gilles, Dubois, Roussel and Laoun will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo.
