Canada names Olympic hopefuls for short track speed skating World Tour team

Reigning national champions Courtney Sarault and William Dandjinou highlight Canada's 12-person short track speed skating team for this fall's World Tour campaign.

Two-time relay champion Florence Brunelle, 2022 Olympic champion Maxime Laoun, Danaé Blais and Félix Roussel are among other familiar faces returning to the team.

Also earning spots on the squad are Kim Boutin, Rikki Doak, Steven Dubois and Jordan Pierre-Gilles, all of whom were dealing with injuries during the season-opening national championship. Youngsters Ann-Sophie Bachand and Mathieu Pelletier round out the team.

The athletes will be in contention to represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, and will compete on the ISU Short Track World Tour circuit during the 2025-26 season.

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The World Tour format — which features three individual distances per weekend, as well as men's, women's and mixed relays — returns for 2025-26 after debuting last season.

Canada will kick-off their international campaign with back-to-back events on home ice at the Maurice Richard Arena in Montreal from October 9-12 and 16-19. The arena is also slated to host the season-ending ISU Short Track World Championships in March 2026.

The Canadians won 37 medals across six World Tour stops last season, including a record 21 gold. Their 8,731 points earned across individual distances and relays gave them a sizeable lead over the Dutch Lions (6,919 points) in the race to capture the inaugural Team Crystal Globe as the sport's top nation. 

23-year-old Dandjinou also became the first Canadian to claim the men's Crystal Globe