Canadian Championships: Sarault and Girard in the lead after day 1

The best skaters in Canada are in Montréal for the Canadian Championships in short track this weekend.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Patrick Charbonneau

This year’s Canadian Championships will decide the Canadian World Cup team for the 2018-2019 season. On the first day, the skaters raced on two distances: 1500m and 500m.

1500m (1)

There was no big surprise in the ladies’ qualifying rounds and the best women in Canada were in the A final. After a tight race that included a big fall of 3 skaters in the last lap, British Columbia’s Jamie Macdonald took the first win of the Championships. Claudia Gagnon and Danaé Blais, who were on the junior national team last season, finished second and third. The 2018 Olympian Kasandra Bradette was injured in the fall and didn’t took part in the other races today.

There was a lot of action in the men’s tournament but the big guys managed to make their way to the A final. Charles Hamelin, Charle Cournoyer, Pascal Dion, Samuel Girard, Maxime Laoun, Steven Dubois and Cédrik Blais battled hard during the 13 and a half laps. After a lot of passing, Samuel Girard won the race finishing ahead of Pascal Dion and Charle Cournoyer.

500m (1)

The competition resumed with the 500m event. After three tight rounds, Alison Desmarais, Alyson Charles, Courtney Sarault and Audrey Phaneuf managed to qualify for the ladies’ A final. Courtney Sarault won the race thanks to a solid last lap. Alyson Charles and Alison Desmarais completed the podium of this first 500m event of these Championships.

After a perfect path through the 500m rounds, Cédrik Blais dominated the A final. Samuel Girard and Mathieu Bernier who also had a solid afternoon on the distance completed the podium.

The Championships will continue tomorrow with the 1000m (1) and the 1500m (2).

Here are the videos of the finals on 500m and 1500m:

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