William Dandjinou

Biography

William Dandjinou is set to make his Olympic debut at Milano Cortina 2026 as a two-time Crystal Globe winner and four-time world champion.

Dandjinou won his first Crystal Globe as the top overall male short track speed skater during the inaugural season of the ISU Short Track World Tour in 2024-25. In his season of dominance, Dandjinou also topped the World Tour standings in the 1000m and 1500m distances. Across the six World Tour stops, Dandjinou accumulated eight individual victories. To finish off the season, Dandjinou won three gold and a silver at the 2025 ISU World Short Track Championships, reaching the podium individually in the 1500m (gold) and 1000m (silver) and contributing to Canadian victories in the men’s 5000m relay and mixed 2000m relay.

Dandjinou won his second straight Crystal Globe during the 2025-26 season. Once again, he dominated the circuit, finishing atop the 500m and 1500m standings. In each of those distances, he was victorious in three of the four World Tour events. During the second stop of the circuit in Montreal, Dandjinou became the first athlete to win five gold medals in one weekend of ISU Short Track competition, standing atop the podium in all four men’s events plus the mixed relay.

Dandjinou won his first career world title at the 2024 ISU World Short Track Championships taking gold in the 1000m. That had been a breakout season for him, as he finished 2023-24 ranked third overall on the ISU Short Track World Cup circuit after earning six podiums, including his first individual medal and his first individual victory. He had started the season by winning his first career national title.  

A member of the national short track team since 2019, Dandjinou made his World Cup debut during the 2019-20 season. He competed at the ISU World Junior Short Track Championships in 2019 and 2020 before debuting at the senior world championships in 2021 as a member of the men’s 5000m relay. He was named as an alternate to Team Canada for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

At age 17, Dandjinou competed at the 2019 Canada Games where he won three gold (500m, 1500m, 3000m relay) and two silver (1000m, 3000m points race) medals.

A Little More About William

Getting into the Sport: Started skating at age 6… Enjoys the speed, adrenaline, and technical aspects of short track speed skating… Has grown to more than 190cm, making him tall among short track speed skaters, but learned at a young age to skate low and use his leg length to his advantage by having a wide range of motion… Odds and Ends: Known for his eagle wings celebration after winning a race.. Inspired by Olivier Jean who has been a mentor to him…