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The Canadian quartet of Florence Brunelle, Courtney Sarault, Claudia Gagnon and Danaé Blais captured gold in a chaotic women’s 3,000-metre relay final at the ISU Short Track World Tour opener in Vancouver on Saturday night.
Canada was sitting third in a tight race behind Italy and the Netherlands when the top two teams collided on the final corner, leaving the Canadian Ice Maples in the lead.
Canada crossed the line in four minutes 13.609 seconds, beating second-place South Korea by 0.272 seconds.
Italy’s Elisa Confortola was penalized for an arm block that took down Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer, who took Confortola out with her as she fell. The Netherlands still finished third.
The Canadian Ice Maples chat with Devin Heroux after winning the women’s 3,000-metre relay final at the ISU Short Track World Tour stop in Vancouver.
“Winning the gold, first World Tour in Vancouver. It’s incredible,” Sarault told CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux. “It was definitely a tough race, and we had to adapt a lot and kind of find chances to choose when to go. I think that we executed it perfectly and we were able to secure the gold.”
Canada’s relay team was without Kim Boutin, who helped the squad earn bronze at the Milano Cortina Olympics before retiring after the world championships in Montreal in March.
The relay gold was Canada’s second medal on the first day of finals at the Pacific Coliseum, following Maxime Laoun’s silver in the men’s 500m.
The two-time Olympian from Montreal finished 0.174 seconds behind Dutch skater Jens van ‘t Wout (40.551), with Turkey’s Furkan Akar taking bronze in 41.334 after South Korea’s Lee Jeong-min was penalized. Reigning Olympic 500m champion Steven Dubois of Lachenaie, Que., crashed on the final corner and finished fourth.
Maxime Laoun of Montreal finishes second in the men’s 500-metre final at the ISU Short Track World Tour stop in Vancouver.
Earlier Saturday, Sarault, the defending Crystal Globe champion from Moncton, N.B., salvaged valuable World Tour points by winning the women’s 1,000m B final, clocking 1:33.415 after leading from start to finish. She beat South Korea’s Shim Suk-hee, Confortola and Poland’s Gabriela Topolska. Sarault missed the medal race after finishing third in her semifinal.
Sarault won Olympic silver in the distance as part of a four-medal haul at the Milano Cortina Games.
Van ‘t Wout completed a double on Saturday by winning the men’s 1,500m in 2:20.025. The Dutch skater sat as low as seventh early before making his move in the closing laps, passing on the inside of Canada’s Félix Roussel and Italy’s Thomas Nadalini before edging South Korea’s Rim Jongun by 0.057 seconds. Japan’s Shogo Miyata took bronze.
Roussel, the national champion, had been second behind Nadalini for much of the race and finished fifth, 0.355 seconds off the podium. The Sherbrooke, Que., native had posted the second-fastest semifinal time behind Van ‘t Wout.
Canada advanced to Sunday’s final in the men’s 5,000m relay by placing second behind South Korea in the first of two semifinal heats. Roussel narrowly avoided disaster, staying on his feet after nearly going down.
Japan and China also qualified for the final.
Watch the opening day of the ISU Short Track World Tour stop in Vancouver.
Missing from the Canadian team was two-time reigning men’s overall Crystal Globe champion William Dandjinou.
The 25-year-old from Montreal is skipping the stops in Vancouver and his hometown as part of a revamped training plan after the Olympics. He competed instead at last week’s Canadian long track championships in Calgary, where he placed ninth in the 1,500m, and is expected to return to the World Tour in Seoul on Nov. 20-22.
Dandjinou helped Canada win the World Tour’s team Crystal Globe for the second straight time last season.
Competition in Vancouver wraps up Sunday with finals in the women’s 500m and 1,500m, the men’s 1,000m, and the mixed and men’s relays. Watch live coverage of the Day 2 finals on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, starting at 7 p.m. ET.
The World Tour then moves to Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1.
Saturday’s medal races were featured on CBC Sports Primetime, CBC’s new weekly flagship sports show hosted by Andi Petrillo.
Montreal’s Maxime Laoun discusses finishing second in the men’s 500-metre final at the ISU Short Track World Tour stop in Vancouver.