Canadian Dandjinou earns 1,000m gold in dramatic fashion at short track worlds
Canadian speed skater William Dandjinou secured gold in the men’s 1,000 metres at the ISU world short track championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Sunday.
The Montreal native clocked one minute 25.534 seconds for his first victory in the event since the 2023 Four Continents short track championships in Laval, Que.
The 22-year-old jumped to the front of the pack at the beginning of Sunday’s five-athlete race, setting a brisk pace.
While both South Korean skaters took the lead with just three laps to go, Hwang Dae-heon was penalized for holding off Park Ji-won in a manoeuvre that bumped both off course, opening the door for Dandjinou to regain the lead.
The Canadian skater finished the final laps at a furious pace and just edged ahead of silver medallist Pietro Sighel of Italy by 0.021 seconds.
WATCH | Dandjinou wins 1,000m gold:
Montreal’s William Dandjinou went down to the wire with Italy’s Pietro Sighel for the world title in The Netherlands.
Italian Luca Spechenhauser earned bronze with a time of 1:26.026.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect to have this result today,” Dandjinou said. “After the day I had yesterday — probably the worst day I could have imagined with bad results in the 500, 1,500 and relay — I’m just happy to be back.
“It’s not the first time I have a bad day. It’s my first world championships so I had to adjust to the calibre of the races. I wanted to make sure I was locked in for this last day and do my best. No matter what the results were today, I wanted to be happy with myself, so it’s just a blessing that I finished as world champion.”
Dandjinou was a star on the World Cup circuit this season. He collected gold medals in the 1,500 at stops in Montreal in October, Seoul, South Korea in December, and Dresden, Germany, in February, earning the 1,500 World Cup classification title.
American Kristen Santos-Griswold won the gold medal in at time of 1:42.717 in a chaotic women’s 1,000 ahead of silver medallist Kim Gilli of South Korea (1:43.049) and bronze medallist Arianna Fontana of Italy (1:43.074).
WATCH | American Santos-Griswold takes 1,000m gold:
Hanne Desmet created a major collision at the ISU world short track championships in Rotterdam.
Canadian relay women reach podium
Canada’s women’s relay team took bronze in a chaotic 3,000 final that saw various competitors slip up and fall, with the team ultimately crossing the line in 4:12.675 to take third.
The Netherlands posted a 4:07.788 winning time while the U.S. claimed silver at 4:08.061.
WATCH | Canadian women win relay bronze:
Danae Blais, Rikki Doak, Renee Marie Steenge and Kim Boutin averted slips and crashes in the field to land the podium in Rotterdam.
Danae Blais, Rikki Doak, Renee Marie Steenge and Kim Boutin formed the four-woman unit for Canada, the latter of which won Canada’s first gold medal of the three-day event on Saturday in the women’s 500.
“There was a lot of action in the race, but we remained calm, and I thought we had good aggression,” Boutin said. “So many different things happened in the race that the officials decided to keep the result as is.
“I think we were ready to have a great race, but we are very happy with the bronze medal. A third place is consistent with our other performances this season.”
WATCH | Boutin captures 500m gold in Rotterdam, Netherlands:
Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Que., narrowly missed being taken out by a two-skater wipeout right before the finish line at the ISU World Short Track Championships.
Adding Jordan Pierre-Gilles’s bronze medal in the 500 on Saturday, Canada’s medal haul at the event was four, two off of last year’s total, but with two more gold medals won this year.
Before this weekend, Canada’s last gold medal at a world championship event was the now-retired Charles Hamelin in the men’s 1,500 in Dordrecht, Netherlands, in 2021.
WATCH | Pierre-Gilles claims bronze in 500m:
Jordan Pierre-Gilles, from Sherbrooke, Que., took the bronze in Rotterdam, while Steven Dubois, of Terrebonne, Que., finished three seconds back of a podium spot.
