Short track: Canada takes three gold medals on first day of Montreal World Cup

Two Canadian speed skaters continued a hot start to the short track season, while Canada’s women’s relay team won gold on the first day at the ISU Short Track World Tour in Montreal.

William Dandjinou added two medals to his season total, including a second consecutive gold in the 1500m, while Steven Dubois claimed gold in the 500m. Meanwhile in the final event of the day, Danae Blais, Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle and Rikki Doak teamed up to claim gold in the 3000m relay.

In the 500m, Dandjinou and Dubois switched positions from last week’s double podium. This week, it was Dubois who took home gold with a time of 41.124 seconds, while Dandjinou finished right behind him with a time of 41.183 seconds. Italy’s Pietro Sighel rounded out the podium in third.

In the 1500m, William Dandjinou won gold for the second straight week, improving on his time from last week.

The 23-year-old held a modest lead in the final lap over Latvia’s Roberts Kruzbergs, who finished in second, and Italy’s Pietro Sighel who finished third. He crossed the finish line with a time of two minutes and 17.14 seconds.

Dandjinou now has four individual medals through just three days of competition, including a team gold in the 5000m relay from last weekend. He sits in first place in the men’s overall classification with an 104-point lead over Pietro Sighel.

After being disqualified from last week’s 3000m relay due to a penalty, Canada responded with a statement to win gold on Saturday. Their time of four minutes and 7.84 seconds beat out Italy by three-tenths of a second, while China finished in third place.

The ISU Short Track World Tour is being in Montreal for a second straight week after the tour’s opening week was relocated from Salt Lake City. Action will continue tomorrow with the women’s 500m and 1500m, and the men’s 1000m and 5000m relay, along with the mixed relay.