Hamelin wins 1500m world title in Montreal, Boutin brings home bronze
Canada won two medals on Saturday at the ISU World Short Track Championships in Montreal led by Charles Hamelin winning the 1500m title for the second time.
The 33-year-old five-time Olympic medallist earlier this week tweeted that he would return to skate for one more season, and then went on to win a world title on his home rink in two minutes and 12.982 seconds.
Charles Hamelin (centre) holds up his gold medal after winning the 1500m short track speed skating world title on Saturday, March 17, 2018 in Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena (CP).
Hamelin beat Lim Hyo-jun of South Korea (2:13.157) and Russia’s Semen Elistratov (2:13.312) to bring Canada its first gold medal from the weekend with medal events on Saturday and Sunday.
At the Olympic Games last month in PyeongChang, Lim had won gold in front of home fans, while Elistratov took bronze there as well, while Hamelin was assessed a penalty for infraction.
Hamelin’s previous 1500m world title came in 2014, incidentally also in Montreal a month after the Olympic Games that year where he had won gold in this distance at Sochi 2014. On Sunday, Hamelin will have chance at at least on more gold medal as the men’s 5,000m relay team advanced to the final.
Canada’s Kim Boutin (right) behind Choi Min-jeong of South Korea at the short track speed skating world championships on Saturday, March 17, 2018 in Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena (CP).
On the women’s side Canada’s lone medal from Saturday came from Kim Boutin, the three-time medallist from her first Olympic Games last month, and Canada’s Closing Ceremony flag bearer.
Boutin’s 1500m bronze in Montreal at a time of 2:23.592 matched her Olympic medal of the same colour in this event at PyeongChang. The same can be said for Saturday’s race winner Choi Min-jeong (2:23.351) of South Korea. Choi’s teammate Shim Suk-hee (2:23.468) took the silver in a tightly-contested final.
Racing continues on Sunday in Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena.
