The Canadian short track speed skating team continued its strong start to the Olympic season with three more medals at the ISU World Tour stop in Montreal.
Courtney Sarault of Moncton, N.B., won her second gold medal in as many days, taking the women’s 1,500-metre final in a time of two minutes 22.156 seconds at Maurice Richard Arena.
The 25-year-old finished ahead of South Korea’s Kim Gil-li (2:22.217) and American Corinne Stoddard (2:22.256) for the second straight day after winning Saturday’s 1,000m final.
Sarault was the silver medallist in both distances at last year’s world championships in Beijing.
Courtney Sarault of Moncton, N.B., claimed gold in the women’s 1,500-metre race, at the season-opening ISU Short Track World Tour event in Montreal. This is her second gold of the weekend and her 4th medal as she was 3rd in both the Team Mixed Relay and the Women’s 3000m Relay.
Fellow Canadian Olympian Kim Boutin, 30, snagged silver earlier Sunday in the women’s 500m, crossing the line in 43.087 seconds. The reigning world champion from Sherbrooke, Que., finished behind Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer (42.972), with Stoddard taking bronze in 43.142.
Velzeboer is the world record holder with her time of 41.416 from the 2022 World Cup stop in Salt Lake City, which broke Boutin’s previous mark of 41.936 set on the same ice in 2019.
Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Que, claimed silver in the women’s 500-metre race, at the season-opening ISU Short Track World Tour event in Montreal.
Canada also took home bronze on the final day in Montreal, with the Canadian Ice Maples reaching the podium in the mixed team relay after the Korean White Tigers were disqualified.
Sarault, Steven Dubois, Felix Roussel and Danaé Blais initially placed fourth in 2:44.691, two spots behind the South Koreans, but the White Tigers were penalized for an illegal lane change. The Chinese Loongs captured gold and the Dutch Lions were upgraded to silver.
Canadian Ice Maples Mixed Relay Team of Steven Dubois, Courtney Sarault, Felix Roussel and Danae Blais win the bronze in the Mixed Team Relay, after the Korean White Tigers get disqualified from the final.
The World Tour season will help decide how many Olympic entries each country receives and who will compete at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games in February.
Montreal will also host the second stop (Oct. 18-19), then it’s off to Poland (Nov. 20-23) and the Netherlands (Nov. 27-30). The world championships will also take place in Montreal in March, just a few weeks after the Olympics.
Watch live coverage of the events on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. A live streaming schedule is available here.
