DRESDEN, Germany — Felix Roussel earned gold to spearhead a second straight three-medal day for Canada in World Cup short track speedskating action on Sunday.
The Sherbrooke, Que., native won the men's 500 metres in a time of 40.078 seconds. Roussel also took silver in the 1,000 as part of the three Canadian medals earned on Saturday.
Jordan Pierre-Gilles, also from Sherbrooke, grabbed silver stopping the clock at 40.619 seconds. Poland's Lukasz Kuczynski (41.583) rounded out the podium with bronze.
“Of course I'm very happy to have won my first gold medal, and it's certainly a very special moment to share it with my parents, who came all the way from Quebec to see me in Europe," Roussel said.
"Yesterday I won silver, but I wanted gold. But now I've got it. I was gaining confidence with every round and I was really excited to share it with Jordan and the two Sherbrooke guys together on the podium, it was really incredible.”
Canada's women's 3,000 relay team also earned silver.
The quartet of Danae Blais, Kim Boutin, Claudia Gagnon, Courtney Sarault finished in four minutes 6.076 seconds. The Netherlands (4:05.405) and the U.S. (4:09.740) took gold and bronze, respectively.
"I think we're happy with the result, but obviously we'd have been even happier if we'd really worked it all the way to the end," Gagnon said. "I'm very, very confident for Poland, because we're going to focus on what we need to improve, and I'm sure we're capable of winning a medal again in Poland, because that's what it's all about.”
The Canadian team is set to compete in the final World Cup of the season in Gdansk, Poland from Feb. 16-18.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press
