Courtney Sarault and William Dandjinou crowned Canadian short track champions
Courtney Sarault and William Dandjinou can both now call themselves two-time Canadian short track champions.
At the Canadian Short Track Championships in Montreal, Sarault dominated the five days of racing on the women’s side while Dandjinou just edged out Félix Roussel for top spot in the men’s standings.
Sarault went nine-for-nine, winning all three races held in each of the three distances. She closed it out on Sunday with victories in the third 1500m race and the third 500m race, after having won the third 1000m race on Saturday. That left her well clear of the runner-up, four-time Olympic medallist Kim Boutin, in the overall standings.
In the last 1500m final, Sarault passed the pack on the outside to take the lead with three laps remaining. Danaé Blais and Florence Brunelle finished in a virtual tie for second, but Brunelle was penalized for contact on an earlier pass, which put Ann-Sophie Bachand onto the podium in the event. Sarault then out-sprinted Brunelle and Victoria Jean-Baptiste in the last 500m final.
“It feels unbelievable!” said Sarault, the 2023 Canadian champion who missed last year’s nationals while recovering from a concussion. “Coming into this competition, I didn’t expect to have this great of results, but I got the job done and then some, so I’m super excited and proud of myself.”
Dandjinou, the reigning Crystal Globe winner from last season’s ISU Short Track World Tour, was in a tight battle with Roussel heading into the final day of racing. Roussel had won the last 1000m final on Saturday, passing Dandjinou in the final lap for his third gold medal of the championships to close the points gap in the overall standings.
“Winning gold in the 1000m was a very nice victory for me. It’s the distance that I typically have the most success in, so to be able to perform and build upon what I’ve accomplished in it over the past two seasons is encouraging,” said Roussel.
In the last 1500m final of the championships, Danjinou and Roussel were at the front of the pack before Dandjinou lost an edge while making a last-minute pass attempt. Both men crashed into the protective padding, leaving it open for Mathieu Pelletier to take the win ahead of Maxime Laoun and Philippe Daudelin.
In the last 500m final, Dandjinou took silver behind Laoun to lock up the overall victory. Pelletier claimed bronze while Roussel placed fifth. Dandjinou ended up taking his second straight national title by just 1000 points when each skater’s top six results were counted.
“I feel pretty good. These past two weekends have been quite difficult. I got the job done. But if I’m honest, I didn’t do it the way I wanted to,” said Dandjinou. “I was strategic but I feel I wasn’t necessarily the best skater during this competition. That tells me that I still have a lot of work to do.”
Following the nationals, six women and six men will be named to the Canadian team for the ISU Short Track World Tour, which kicks off with back-to-back stops in Montreal taking place October 9-12 and October 16-19. Results from the four World Tour stops will determine how many Olympic quota spots Canada will have in short track speed skating at Milano Cortina 2026 and which skaters will fill them.
Overall Standings:
Women
- Courtney Sarault – 30,000
- Kim Boutin – 21,760
- Ann-Sophie Bachand – 18,720
- Danaé Blais – 18,496
- Florence Brunelle – 18,368
Men
- William Dandjinou – 28,000
- Félix Roussel – 27,000
- Maxime Laoun – 22,248
- Mathieu Pelletier – 19,720
- Philippe Daudelin – 15,847
