Boutin wins a bronze medal for Canada in a stellar final while Fontana adds to her legend status

After the qualifying heats in the women's 500m and men's 1000m were held on Saturday, it was now time to crown some olympic champions on those distances. 

By Carl Savard

Photo by Speed Skating Canada / Patinage de vitesse Canada / Greg Kolz

From the very beginning, a more than imperfect scenario awaited the Canadian athletes who had qualified for these quarter-final heats in the 500m as the three skaters would have to battle it out to reach the next round. Attempting to go all-in at the end of the race, Florence Brunelle of Canada ended up getting penalized, while her compatriots Kim Boutin and Alyson Charles were good to move on to the next round. This penalty in the first race was the first of a rather chaotic day in both the women's 500m and the men's 1000m. A chaos full of question marks that raised eyebrows and all through the day. 

The women's 500m final was a dream final. A final that allowed us to witness a confrontation between the reigning world champion Suzanne Schulting, the greatest Olympic short track skater of all time, Arianna Fontana and the world record holder on the distance, Kim Boutin. China's Zhang Yuting and Belgium's Hanne Desmet were also on the starting line. We ended up getting the show we were waiting for as the great Arianna Fontana won her 10th Olympic medal in her career with a perfect pass on Suzanne Schulting. Schulting still got her 3rd career Olympic medal by winning silver while the bronze went to Canada's Kim Boutin. A 4th Olympic podium for Boutin who had also won bronze over the distance at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018. 

In the men's 1000m, a recall of the race following a broken blade for safety reasons ended up giving us a soulless race. A final with athletes having burned a lot of fuel in the first start and officials overwhelmed by the number of race incidents that have occurred since the beginning of the day. China's Ren Ziwei finally won gold, finishing ahead of his compatriot Li Wenlong and Hungary's Liu Shaoang.

The action will resume on Wednesday with the 1000m qualifying heats and semi-final heats 3000m relay on the women's side of the competition and the full 1500m competition on the men's side. 

For the complete schedule and results, please visit HERE

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Arianna Fontana makes history / Natalia Maliszewska's nightmare continues

The first day of short track competition was presented today in Beijing and the first round of the women's 500m and men's 1000m and the full competition of the mixed relay event were on the schedule.

By Carl Savard

Photo by Schaats Foto's

Broken dreams

The women competition in the 500m did not bring major surprises today, but a dream was broken. While the majority of the favourites got their ticket to the next round, including the three Canadians in the running (Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle and Alyson Charles), Natalia Maliszewska's nightmare continued. After testing positive for Covid-19 last Sunday, the Polish skater was given the green light yesterday to report to the arena for the first day of competition after testing negative following her isolation period. Unfortunately for the skater who won gold on the distance last fall at the first World Cup event of the season and as been a major player on the distance, her covid test on the first day of competition came back positive and she was not granted the right to skate. The kind of nightmarish situation that all athletes fear since their arrival in China. 

Not much to report in the men's 1000m as the best athletes are moving on to the next round including Canadians Pascal Dion (first in the World Cup standings this season over the distance) and Olympic rookie Jordan Pierre-Gilles. A small surprise worthy of the Olympics though as Turkish athlete Furkan Akar will also be in the next round. He crossed the finish line smiling after a collision between Denis Ayrapetyan and Kazuki Yoshinaga helped him finish second. 

One more for the living legend

The only event on the schedule that was going to award medals today, the mixed relay event, had the most action. Poland had to fight without Natalia Maliszewska, Korea fell in the quarter-finals while the Netherlands did the same in the semi-finals. In addition, the athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee and the Americans were penalized in the semi-finals. Canada, China, Hungary and Italy had a date in the grand final. A fall by Canada leading to a penalty deprived them of a possible medal. China won, finishing ahead of Italy and Hungary. This Italian silver medal makes Arianna Fontana the most decorated short track speed skater in history. With nine medals, Fontana passes the legends Apolo Anton Ohno and Ahn Hyun-soo (Viktor Ahn) who both have eight. Don't be surprised if Fontana adds to her individual haul in the coming days. 

For the complete schedule and results, please visit HERE

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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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Schulting and Liu made good impression in Shanghai

The 2019 Shanghai Trophy welcomed high level skaters from all around the world in the last few days as they prepare for the 2019-2020 season.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Schaats Foto’s

Skaters from China, Hungary, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada, Korea and Israel took part in the 2019 Shanghai Trophy as part of their preparation for the upcoming short track season.

Schulting continued where she left off

The 2019 overall World champion and Pyeongchang 2018 1000m gold medalist Suzanne Schulting from the Netherlands started her international season the right way winning the 1000m event in Shanghai. Hungarian Petra Jaszapati and Chinese Chutong Zhang took the second and third place on the distance. Hungarian star Liu Shaolin Sandor won the men’s 1000m just ahead of Chinese Tianyi Zhang and Korean Seo Beom Suk. 

The Netherlands, Hungary and China at the top in the relays

A ladies 3000m relay, a men 5000m relay and a mixed relay were raced in Shanghai. The Dutch, Hungarian and Chinese teams all finished on the podium of every relay and each won one. The Netherlands won the ladies’ relay, Hungary the men’s relay and China the mixed relay. 

Canada at the Shanghai Trophy 

Some Canadian were also competing in Shanghai during the weekend. The best Canadian performances went to Alex Lepage-Farrell and Sébastien Gagnon who both finished 8th on 1000m skating the B final. Genève Bélanger, of whom we shared the comeback story earlier this summer, collected a solid 9th position on 1000m. Adding to these three skaters who reached the top 10, Speed Skating Canada sent Léa Chamberland-Dostie, Camille de Serres-Rainville, Renee Steenge, Antoine Gagnon-Lamarche, Alexis Marceau, Brendan Corey, Ethan McKinley-Young and Francis Dumouchel to gain some more international experience.

You can browse the full results HERE

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Montréal day 3: Korea and China ends up on top

The best junior short track skaters in the world were back in action for the last day of racing at the World junior short track championships on Sunday at the Maurice-Richard Arena.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Carl Savard

On the last day of racing, world junior champion titles on 1000m and in the 3000m relay were awarded.

Li Jinyu and Jung Ho Kyoung 1000m champions

Park Yoon Jung and Seo Whi Min from Korea, Li Xuan and Li Jinyu from China and Claudia Heeney from Canada met in the ladies’ 1000m A final. Halfway through the race, Chinese skater Li Xuan crashed with yesterday’s winner on 1500m Seo Whi Min. In the end, Chinese Li Jinyu was too strong and managed to cross the line in first position to claim the world junior title on the distance. Park Yoon Jung and Claudia Heeney completed the podium.

In the men’s category, the big final opposed Russian Sergei Milovanov, Chinese Song Jian, Japanese Kazuki Yoshinaga and Koreans Kim Tae Sung and Jung Ho Kyoung. Koreans were too strong from start to finish and ended the race in first and second position. Jung Ho Kyung took the gold medal, his teammate Kim Tae Sung the silver and Japanese Kazuki Yoshinaga the bronze.

Korea and China new world record holder in the relay
The ladies' 3000m relay A final was won by the Koreans in a new junior world record time of 4:14.699. Russia and Italy completed the podium.

The Chinese men were in control in the men's relay A final and also established a new junior world record on the distance. Team Netherlands and Russia were able to follow this fast paced race but in the end it was too fast to pass the Chinese team.

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Mid-season bulletin in short track: China

China has been one of the best countries in short track for a while now. Here’s our mid-season bulletin concerning the performances of its athlete so far this season.

Par Jackob Savard

Photo: Danny Kim (DK_ST)

Since it will host the next winter Olympic games in 2022, China is a country that we will probably see dominate in short track in the next few years, especially after hiring Canadian coach Derrick Campbell. Here’s how their young team performed during the three first World cup events of the season.

Young veterans leading the way

Even though they missed the Almaty leg of the World cup this fall, team's veterans Wu Dajing and Fan Kexin continue to lead the Chinese team in the rankings. Wu Dajing won the three 500m finals he competed in and leads the World cup classification on the distance even though he missed one of the four 500m competed so far this season. Fan Kexin currently sits in fourth place in the 500m ranking and in 10th place in the 1000m ranking even though she only raced the distance once. She collected two individual bronze medals and one silver medal during the first two World cups and we can expect big things from her for the second half of the season. Fan and Wu also helped the Chinese mixed relay team take the lead in the ranking with two events to go.

Younger skaters making their way to the top

Skaters such as twenty-one-year-old Ren Ziwei, two-time medalist on 1000m, seventeen-year old Li Jinyu and eighteen-year-old Li Xuan who both medaled on 1500m and currently in the top 10 of this distance, will probably reach their peak in four years just in time for the Beijing olympics. Other young skaters such as Zang Yize, Wang Pengyu and Jia Haidong have also shown good things on the World cup circuit.

The men’s 5000m relay team won a silver and a bronze medal and is in third place of the World cup classification. The ladies had a harder time in the 3000m relay and are currently in 6th place.

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World cup #1: an exciting weekend from start to finish

A great weekend for Wu Dajing, Alyson Charles, Liu Shaoang and Suzanne Schulting, magical podiums for Véronique Pierron and Lara van Ruijven and a historical win for team China, the 2018-19 World cup season started with a bang in Calgary.

By Carl Savard

Photos by Danny Kim

Seven big finals were on the schedule yesterday with skaters battling for individual glory on 500m and 1000m while some were also joining forces with their teammates to get on team podiums for the  2000m mixed relay, 3000m women’s relay and 5000m men’s relay.

Lara van Ruijven's golden smile

Two of the skaters who fought in the A final of the first 500m of the weekend Saturday had to face each other again on Sunday. Canada’s Alyson Charles and Poland’s Natalia Maliszewska had a meeting with China’s Fan Kexin and Lara van Ruijven from the Netherlands. After an amazing start by Charles, van Ruijven eventually passed her and didn’t look back. The Dutch skater who’s accustomed to having success with her teammates in relay events, was extatic after her win. A first gold medal for her on the World cup circuit. Fan Kexin won silver while Canada’s Alyson Charles won the bronze.

On the men’s side, Wu Dajing continued his domination on the distance winning a second gold medal this weekend. He was followed on the podium by Abzal Azhgaliyev from Kazakhstan and Liu Shaolin Sandor from Hungary.

Another one for Schulting, a first for Pierron

On 1000m, Suzanne Schulting put on another top performance to win the gold. Russia’s Sofia Prosvirnova finished second but the story of this race was the bronze medal won by French veteran Véronique Pierron. Pierron who wasn’t sure she would be back this season, won her first individual medal on the World cup circuit with her performance on 1000m this weekend. “I’ve been skating around this one for a while. The conditions were really good, the ice was very fast. I was a bit nervous but it gave me extra energy. I am so happy!”

On the men’s side Liu Shaoang came up on top finishing ahead of Korea’s Park Ji Won and China’s Ren Ziwei.

Wu Dajing and friends win the mixed relay event

After winning two individual medals, China’s Wu Dajing can add to his resume that he and his teammates were awarded the first gold medal of this new short track event. The silver medal went to a team that could eventually win gold in upcoming competitions. Sjinkie Knegt, Suzanne Schulting, Daan Breeuwsma, Rianne de Vries, Lara van Ruijven from the Netherlands offered a great performance but China was just too strong this Sunday. Team Korea came in third and you can prepare yourself to see these three countries fight each other very often in the mixed relay.

Canadian rookie team on the podium in the women’s relay

If Canada’s Claudia Gagnon couldn’t believe that she was heading to the A final when we talked to her yesterday, putting a bronze medal in her suitcase sure wasn’t on her mind before the start of this first competition. To add to the excitement, their bronze medal performance was done with a time that gives them the new canadian record on the distance. Even though Canada’s top female skaters, three-time olympic medallist Kim Boutin and Canadian champion Jamie Macdonald were not skating this weekend, the women’s team was impressive. The race was won by team Russia and Korea finished in second place.

New world record on the men’s relay

It was not a secret that team Canada wanted to beat the world record on the event and it showed right from the start. Hamelin, Cournoyer, Girard and Dion established a pace that was going to lead them to the promised land but so much can happen in short track. After leading a good portion of the race, things went bad for Canada when Samuel Girard lost his balance. The door was open for the other teams to use Canada’s locomotive effect and fight for the world record. Finaly, the Olympic champion team of Hungary won the race and beat the record. Team Korea came in second while the Dutch team came in third. Canada finished in fourth place and Japan fifth.

The athletes don’t have too much time to relax since their next meeting is in just a few days in Salt Lake City, USA. Another really fast ice that will surely be host to an exciting weekend.

Recap from day 1
Recap from day 2

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UPDATE: Derrick Campbell about to leave Canada for China

By Carl Savard

Photo by Tony Chung (@shorttrackhd)

The months following the Olympic games are always full of plot twists in the magical world of sports and it includes the world of short track speed skating. Reigning world champion Charles Hamelin announced he was postponing his retirement, while  his teammates Marianne St-Gelais and François Hamelin and Great-Britain's Charlotte Gilmartin all announced they were hanging up their skates. Some top skaters in Korea are taking time off from the ice next season, the Netherlands' Daan Breeuwsma needed surgery, Australia's Deanna Lockett is moving from short track to long track while John Henry Krueger is about to leave the United-States for Hungary. But today's news is a big one. 

It seems that after more than 10 years as the head coach of Canada's national team in short track speed skating, Derrick Campbell is about to leave Canada to join China's national team. Campbell, who represented his country in short track at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympic games, coached the Canadian men's team for three Olympic games: Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang. 

We will give you more informations as soon as they're available. 

Update 2018-06-07

Speed skating Canada just released the news with a statement from Campbell: 

“I’m excited about this next challenge in my career,” said Derrick Campbell. “It’s an opportunity to experience and learn new things and to be a part of something as special as helping to prepare a team for a home Olympic Games.”

“It wasn't an easy decision to make, but after 12 years at this job, I was ready to take on new challenges,” explained Derrick Campbell.

“I’m deeply appreciative of my time with the Canadian program,” Campbell added. “I’d like to extend many thanks to Speed Skating Canada for its support over the years and to the staff and athletes, with who I developed many great relationships and shared so many incredible moments. It was a privilege to be a part of this team for so many years.”

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