World cup in Nagoya: Confortola gets first star of the weekend

Yuri Confortola catches the golden snitch in Nagoya while Pascal Dion and Kristen Santos add to their strong start to the season. 

By Carl Savard 

Photo: International Skating Union

A first gold for Confortola 

The Nippon Gaishi Arena in Nagoya, Japan was the venue for the 2nd leg of the 2021-22 World Cup short track season. If Hwang Dae-heon's 500m victory was predictable and Ren Ziwei's 1000m victory was not necessarily a big surprise, Yuri Confortola's 1500m victory definitely puts a smile on the face of short track fans. With this victory, the 35-year-old Italian won his first career individual gold medal on the circuit. Instead of playing cat and mouse for a good part of the race, as it is often the case in a 1500m race, Confortola took the gamble of taking off at full speed from the start. A strategy that paid off for the pillar of the Italian men's national team for so many years. 

In the 5000m relay, Canada won the gold medal finishing ahead of China and Hungary. 

Santos once again

On the women's side, USA's Kristen Santos picked up where she left off last weekend, adding a gold medal in the 1000m to her 2021-22 collection. Italy's Arianna Fontana won the 500m grand final while the Netherlands' Suzanne Schulting did the same in the 1500m. Schulting also helped her team win the 3000m relay. In the mixed relay, Russia won ahead of China and Hungary. 

Dion gets another one for Canada

For Canada, in addition to the men's relay victory, Pascal Dion won another bronze medal in the 1000m this season, giving him the provisional lead in the World Cup standings after two of four events. Dion also competed in the main final on 1500m, finishing in 6th place. Also on the men's side, Steven Dubois was penalized in the 500m main final. On the women's side, Kim Boutin's weekend ended with a 4th place finish in the 500m and a 5th place in the 1000m. Danaé Blais finished 12th in the 1500m. 

The athletes will now head to Hungary to compete from November 18 to 21 for the penultimate round of the World Cup season.

For full results click HERE

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