Canadian Olympic gold medalist Maxime Laoun of Montreal, Quebec won two gold medals this past weekend at a Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah. Laoun, who won the gold medal in the men’s 5000 metre relay at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, was part of the Canadian team that won the gold medal in the men’s 5000 metre relay on Sunday, and also won an individual gold medal in the men’s 500 metres on Saturday. Team Canada won three gold medals on the weekend as Canadian Olympic silver medalist Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Quebec won the gold medal in the women’s 500 metres on Saturday. Boutin won an Olympic silver medal in the women’s 1000 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Laoun had a time of 40.946 seconds in winning gold. Abzal Azhgaliyev of Kazakhstan won the silver medal with a time of 41.054 seconds. June Seo Lee of South Korea won the bronze medal with a time of 41.35 seconds. Laoun reached the podium by 1.166 seconds over Shogo Miyata of Japan, who had a fourth place time of 42.112 seconds.
Laoun is now eighth in the World Cup men’s 500 metre standings after three races with 100 points. The World Cup leader is Canadian Olympic gold medalist Steven Dubois of Laval, Quebec, who has 192 points. Dubois joined Laoun in winning gold in the men’s 5000 metre relay at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Laoun, Dubois, and Canadian Olympic gold medalists Pascal Dion of Montreal, Quebec, and Jordan Pierre-Gillies of Sherbrooke (also won gold in the relay in Beijing) had a first place time in the relay of 6:35.847. South Korea won the silver medal with a time of 6:36.539. China won the bronze medal with a time of 6:37.054. Canada reached the podium by 20.582 seconds over Kazakhstan, who had a fourth place time of 6:56.429. Canada is in second place in the World Cup standings in the men’s 5000 metre relay with 170 points. South Korea leads with 180 points.
Boutin had a time of 43.095 seconds on Saturday in winning gold. Natalia Maliszewska of Poland won the silver medal with a time of 43.145 seconds. Kristen Santos-Griswold of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 43.17 seconds. Boutin reached the podium by 0.148 seconds over fourth place finisher Corinne Stoddard of the United States, who had a time of 43.243 seconds. Boutin is in sixth place in the World Cup standings in the women’s 500 metres with 100 points. Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands is the World Cup leader with 236 points.
Canada won three more medals on the weekend in women’s events. In the women’s 500 metres on Sunday, Rikki Doak of Fredericton, New Brunswick won bronze. She had a time of 42.478 seconds to beat out Canadian teammate Danae Blais of Chateauguay, Quebec, by eight one-thousandths of a second. Blais had a fourth place time of 42.486 seconds. Velzeboer had a time of 41.602 seconds in winning gold, and Minjeong Choi of South Korea won the silver medal with a time of 42.384 seconds. Doak is in third place in the women’s 500 metre World Cup standings with 130 points.
In the women’s 1000 metres on Sunday, Courtney Lee Sarault of Moncton, New Brunswick had a time of 1:28.291 in winning the silver medal. Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 1:28.241. Santos-Griswold won the bronze medal with a time of 1:32.965. Sarault reached the podium by 7.05 seconds over Anna Seidel of Germany, who had a fourth place time of 1:35.341. In the women’s 1000 metre World Cup standings, Sarault is in third place with 116 points. Schulting leads with 200 points.
Finally in the women’s 3000 metre relay on Sunday, Blais, Sarault, Boutin, and Renee Marie Steenge of Montreal, Quebec won the silver medal with a time of 4:04.137. South Korea won the gold medal with a time of 4:04.016. Italy won the bronze medal with a time of 4:05.538. Canada reached the podium by 12.14 seconds over the Netherlands, which fell and had a fourth place time of 4:16.277. In the World Cup standings in the women’s 3000 metre relay, Canada and the Netherlands are tied with 160 points. The medals on the weekend for Blais, Sarault, Boutin, Steenge, Doak, Laoun, Dion, Dubois and Pierre-Gillies will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo.
