Boutin and Sarault on the podium once again this weekend

Just like they did last week in Nagoya, Canada’s Kim Boutin and Courtney Lee Sarault visited the podium today in Shanghai. 

By Carl Savard

Photos by Martin Holtom and Oscar van den Bosch

Guess who won the 500m again?

Flawless this season on 500m, Canada’s Kim Boutin strengthen her lead on this season’s ranking on the distance with her performance today. Apart from Suzanne Schulting’s powerful push on the last 100m allowing her to win silver, Boutin  seemed alone on the ice today despite being joined on the starting line by 500m specialists such as Fan Kexin, Martina Valcepina and Yara van Kerkhof. Valcepina won the bronze. 

On the men’s side, Liu Shaolin Sandor won the gold medal in a forgettable final. No penalty was awarded during that final but three falls killed the show. Wu Dajing finished in second place while Liu Shaoang finished in third. 

Korea in gold on 1500m while Sarault gets another podium

On 1500m, two Korean ladies finished first and second as Kim Alang won the race finishing ahead of her teammate and reigning world champion on the distance Choi Min Jeong. Canada’s young star Courtney Sarault, who finished second on the distance last week, won the bronze. Sarault is presently in seventh place on this season’s ranking on 1500m.

The men’s competition on 1500m this weekend looked like a team event. Other than Israel’s Vladislav Bykanov, three duos qualified for the final including crowd favorites An Kai and Han Tianyu. Canada was represented by Pascal Dion and Steven Dubois while Park Ji Won and Lee June Seo were there for Korea. Even though Korean skaters looked on their way to grab two spots on the podium, the two Chinese skaters were able to capitalize on Park Ji Won’s fall with three laps to go to win silver (Han) and bronze (An) in front of their fans. Lee June Seo won the gold. 

The Dutch win the mix relay

Only two medals were awarded in the 2000m mix relay event as two of the four teams represented in the final, Canada and the USA, were penalized. The Netherlands finished first while Russia, who’s still in the lead on this season’s ranking, finished second. 

Athletes qualified for the second 500m of the weekend and the 1000m and teams who did the same on the 3000m and 5000m relay events will fight for medals tomorrow at the Oriental Sports Center.

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