Speed Skating Canada/Greg Kolz

Sarault, Dandjinou lead after the opening weekend of Canadian Short Track Championships

Courtney Sarault and William Dandjinou sit atop the standings after the first two days of racing at the 2025 Canadian Short Track Championships, the first step on the road to the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games for Canadian short track speed skaters.

Sarault won all four women’s races that were held over the weekend at Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal to take a strong lead in the women’s standings. She opened the competition on Saturday with a victory in the first 500m race after passing four-time Olympic medallist Kim Boutin midway through the final. Sarault then dominated the first 1500m race, a distance in which she won silver at the world championships this past spring, finishing ahead of Florence Brunelle and Boutin.

“I don’t think I could have gotten off to a better start,” said Sarault, who was the Canadian champion in 2023 but missed last year’s nationals while recovering from a concussion.

“Today was just an emotionally hard day. I feel at my best physically, but a lot of things on the mental side, which normally is my strength, I feel I was lacking. I was holding it together until I got the job done but broke down a bit at the end of the day after the 1500m final. I’m happy with the fact that I have two golds even though I don’t actually feel at my best mentally. I proved to myself that I can do anything when I put my mind to it and focus. I knew I was capable, but to actually do it makes me feel pretty grateful.”

READ: Courtney Sarault discovers new mental strength after two years of challenges

Dandjinou, who has been the Canadian champion the last two years, also got off to a hot start with a pair of victories in the men’s events. In the first 500m final, he made a series of clean, fast passes to get into first place ahead of Félix Roussel and Philippe Daudelin. Dandjinou and Roussel were neck and neck again in the first 1500m final, but the reigning world champion in the distance got to the finish line first.

“I am very satisfied, but honestly I don’t feel like I had a perfect start despite winning two gold,” said Dandjinou. “I still made a lot of mistakes. I know we say that at every Olympic selection event, but I honestly have never seen a Canadian Championships with a field as as competitive as this one. A special mention to my teammate Félix Roussel who was extremely tough today. Skating 39-seconds [in the 500m] at this time of the season is really impressive and it shows our potential as a team this season.”

On Sunday, Sarault was victorious in the first women’s 1000m final after she made a couple of key passes to get by Brunelle and Boutin, who had been jockeying for position in the first half of the race. She followed up with her second 1500m win of the weekend, placing just ahead of Boutin.

“I was confident coming into today, but there were a lot of things on my mind. I kept telling myself that I’ve skated in far worse conditions during the two years when I wasn’t doing too good and just did positive self-talk all day, telling myself that I could do it and that I was capable,” said Sarault. “In the last race, let me tell you, my legs felt like they were about to break off, but when those negative thoughts came in, I just tried to tell myself all the things that could go right, because worrying and doubting yourself before a race never helps. I told myself that if I got the gold in the 1500m it would prove that I was pretty strong, and that’s what I did.”

The first men’s 1000m final was a three-way battle between Dandjinou, Roussel, and Maxime Laoun as they exchanged positions at the front for the first five laps before Dandjinou took the lead for good. Roussel did get the better of him in the second 1500m race of the weekend, to close the gap in the overall standings.

“I am pretty happy with these first two days of the competition,” said Roussel. “I wanted to start strong and set the tone, so to win three silver medals and one gold medal feel good. I’m going to keep working on some stuff but feel that I can not stop worrying a bit about trying to earn my spot, because I feel I’m in a good position and I’ve got the legs. The little rivalry going on between myself and William is also helping me grow as a competitor. We’re going to keep fighting for that national title and gain some more experience.”

The Canadian Short Track Championships will resume on Wednesday August 27 with the second set of 500m and 1000m races. After another short break, the competition will conclude on the weekend with the third set of 1000m races on Saturday August 30, followed by the third set of 500m and 1500m races on Sunday August 31.

At the end of the competition, six men and six women will be selected to the Special Olympic Qualification Competitions Racing Pool. They will represent Canada at the four ISU Short Track World Tour stops this fall, the results of which will qualify Olympic quota spots for Canada and determine which short track speed skaters will be part of Team Canada at Milano Cortina 2026 in February.

You can livestream the competition on CBC Sports digital platforms as well as on Speed Skating Canada’s YouTube channel.

Overall Rankings as of Monday August 25:

Women

1. Courtney Sarault – 20,000 points
2. Kim Boutin – 15,200 points
3. Florence Brunelle – 11,399 points
4. Ann-Sophie Bachand – 10,287 points
5. Claudia Gagnon – 8643 points

Men

1. William Dandjinou – 19,000 points
2. Félix Roussel – 17,000 points
3. Mathieu Pelletier – 9959 points
4. Philippe Daudelin – 8526 points
5. Maxime Laoun – 7140 points