William Dandjinou and Felix Roussel win World Cup short track gold in Germany

William Dandjinou (Linkedin)

William Dandjinou of Sherbrooke, Quebec and Felix Roussel of Candiac, Quebec won the gold medal this past weekend at a Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Dresden, Germany. Dandjinou won the gold medal in the men’s 1500 metres on Saturday, and Roussel won the gold medal in the men’s 500 metres on Sunday. In all, Canadians won six medals in the event.

In the men’s 1500 metres, Dandjinou had a winning time of 2:11.46. Stijn Desmet of Belgium won the silver medal with a time of 2:11.711. Gun Woo Kim of South Korea won the bronze medal with a time of 2:11.785. Dandjinou reached the podium by 0.379 seconds over Andrew Heo of the United States, who had a time of 2:11.839. In the World Cup standings in the men’s 1500 metres, Dandjinou is in first place with 500 points. Kim is in second with 456 points.

In the men’s 500 metres, Roussel led a 1-2 Canadian finish after Denis Nikisha of Kazakhstan was disqualified for trying to block Roussel with his arm. Roussel had a time of 40.078 seconds. Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jordan Pierre-Gilles of Sherbrooke won the silver medal with a time of 40.619 seconds. Lukaz Kuczynski of Poland won the bronze medal with a time of 41.583 seconds. Roussel reached the podium by 21.433 seconds over Desmet, who had a time of 1:01.511. Pierre-Gilles reached the podium by 20.892 seconds. In the World Cup standings in the men’s 500 metres, Pierre-Gilles leads with 40159 points, and Roussel is in fourth place with 28617 points. Pierre-Gilles won the gold medal in the men’s 5000 metre relay at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

In the men’s 1000 metres on Saturday, Roussel and Canadian Olympic gold medalist Steven Dubois of Laval, Quebec won silver and bronze. Wi Jon Park of South Korea won gold with a time of 1:26.406. Roussel won the silver medal with a time of 1:26.482. Dubois won the bronze medal with a time of 1:26.559. Roussel reached the podium by 16.41 seconds and Dubois reached the podium by 16.333 over Michal Niewinski of Poland, who had a fourth place time of 1:42.892. In the World Cup standings in the men’s 1000 metres, Park leads with 525 points. Dubois is in second with 399 points, and Roussel is in 18th place with 85 points. Dubois won the gold medal in the men’s 5000 metre relay at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

In the women’s 3000 metre relay on Sunday, Team Canada won the silver medal with a time of 4:06.076. The Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 4:05.405. The United States won the bronze medal with a time of 4:09.74. Canada reached the podium by 7.93 seconds over South Korea, which had a time of 4:14.006. The Canadian team comprised of Canadian Olympic silver medalist Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Danae Blais of Chateauguay, Quebec, Claudia Gagnon of La Baie, Quebec, and Courtney-Lee Sarault of Moncton, New Brunswick. In the World Cup women’s 3000 metre relay standings, Canada is in second place with 300 points. The Netherlands lead with 400 points. Boutin won her Olympic silver medal in the women’s 1000 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. The medals for Boutin, Gagnon, Sarault, Blais, Roussel, Dubois, Pierre-Gilles, and Dandjinou will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo. 

 

 

 

 

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