Short Track: Five medals for Canada on the last day at the Almaty World Cup
It was gold times two for Canada on Sunday at the Short Track World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Samuel Girard won gold in the men’s 500 m, while the mixed gender relay team also claimed the top prize.
Girard raced to the top of the podium in 40.661 seconds, ahead of Hungarian Shaoang Lui (40.802 seconds) and Abzal Azhgaliyev of Kazakhstan (40.827 seconds). This is his fifth 500 m medal on the World Cup circuit.
In the mixed gender relay, the team of Cedrik Blais, Kim Boutin, Alyson Charles and Girard finished the race in 2:39.615, just edging out South Korea (2:39.639). China finished third with a time of 2:39.789. This is the first medal in Canadian history for this race.
Joining the quartet on the podium was Pascal Dion, Danae Blais and Steven Dubois as they had participated in the previous rounds of the event.
Girard has a total of three medals from this weekend. His first came in the 5000m men’s relay on Friday.
Next up, Boutin, Charles, Blais, and Camille De Serres-Rainville took bronze in the 3000m relay for the second time this season, clocking 4:12.193. They were beaten by the South Koreans (4:11,506) and the Dutch (4:11,327).
Boutin also landed on the podium in the women’s 1500m on Sunday. She finished the race in 2:28.476, behind Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands (2:28.320) and South Korean Min Jeong Choi (2:28.264).
RELATED: Kim Boutin wins 1000m silver at the Short Track World Cup in Almaty
Boutin has a total of four medals over the weekend. On Saturday she took home silver in the 1000m race.
This is the third stop on the ISU World Cup schedule. The next World Cup will be held in Dresden, Germany from February 1-3, 2019.
