Dandjinou claims second straight short track Crystal Globe
William Dandjinou’s reign as the world’s best male short track skater added another chapter on Saturday.
The 24-year-old clinched his second straight Crystal Globe after claiming a gold medal in the men’s 1500m at the final World Tour stop of the season in Dordrecht, Netherlands.
Dandjinou raced behind Dutch skater Jens Van ’t Wout – who held the top spot for the majority of the race – before making his move to the front in the 11th lap, and silencing hometown fans in the Netherlands. Countrymate Felix Roussel also made his move into a podium position late, eventually securing a silver to make it a double podium for the Ice Maples.
For Dandjinou, it’s his third consecutive gold medal in the men’s 1500m this season after claiming the top podium spot in Montreal and Gdansk.
The Sherbrooke native also claimed silver in the 500m, racing to a time of 42.236 seconds.
Dandjinou finishes with 832 points on the season, nearly 250 points ahead of Italy’s Pietro Sighel who finished second in the short track standings.
On the women’s side, Courtney Sarault continued her stellar campaign with a gold in the women’s 1000m. Her time of one minute, 27.7 seconds edged out U.S. skater Corinne Stoddard by 0.05 seconds. Hanne Desmet of Belgium finished in third.
With the win, Sarault leads the chase for the women’s Crystal Globe heading into the final day of short track races.
Action will continue tomorrow from Dordrecht with the final in the women’s 1500m and 500m, as well as the men’s 1000m, and 5000m relay.
