Canadian Olympic silver medalist Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Quebec and Steven Dubois of Lachenaie, Quebec each won gold medals on Sunday in a World Cup short track speed skating event in Dresden, Germany. The gold medals for Boutin and Dubois followed a silver medal for Courtney Lee Sarault of Moncton, New Brunswick on Saturday.
Boutin posted a winning time in the women’s 500 metres final of 42.238 seconds. Chunyu Qu of China won the silver medal with a time of 42.411 seconds. Lara van Ruijven of the Netherlands won the bronze medal with a time of 42.458 seconds. Boutin reached the podium by 0.269 seconds over Min Jeong Choi of South Korea, who had a fourth place time of 42.597 seconds.
Dubois had a winning time of 40.53 seconds in the men’s 500 metres. Shaolin Sandor Liu of Hungary won the silver medal with a time of 40.956 seconds. Melle van ‘T Wout of the Netherlands won the bronze medal with a time of 40.985 seconds. Dubois reached by the podium by 25.014 seconds over fourth place finisher Cedrik Blais of Chateauguay, Quebec, who had a time of 1:05.544.
Sarault had a second place time of 1:55.143 in the women’s 1000 metres. Ji Yoo Kim of South Korea won the gold medal with a time of 1:54.955 and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands won the bronze medal with a time of 1:55.167.
Boutin leads the women’s 500 metre World Cup standings with 50000 points. Martina Valcepina of Italy is second with 38 736 points. Boutin won silver in the women’s 1000 metres and bronze in the women’s 500 metres and 1500 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Dubois is in eighth place in the men’s 500 metre World Cup standings with 18359 points. Liu leads with 50096 points. Sarault is in fourth place in the women’s 1000 metre short track speed skating World Cup standings with 17342 points. Schulting leads with 36078 points. The medals for Dubois, Boutin and Sarault will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
