Canada's Will Dandjinou misses short track medal podium for 2nd time at Milano-Cortina Olympics

Speed skater Will Dandjinou of Montreal placed fifth in the men's Olympic short track 1,500 metres on Saturday, two days after finishing fourth in the 1,000 in Milan.

He was in prime position to attack late in the 1,500 after moving into second behind Jens van 'T Wout of the Netherlands with four laps remaining.

Entering the the final of 13 1/2 lap, Dandjinou had slipped to bronze position, then made contact with South Korea's Shin Dong Min as the field tightened. The 24-year-old Olympic rookie couldn't recover and will attempt to medal in the 500 on Wednesday.

"I felt good and got bumped out," Dandjinou told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports. "I can promise you that maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, I will be Olympic champion."

Michael Gilday, who raced short track at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, said the bump mentioned by Dandjinou cost him "a ton" of speed.

"The last couple of laps [are] so important to have speed in the 1,500 metres," the CBC Sports analyst added. "The lactic [acid] hits [the legs] hard, and if you get a bump like [Dandjinou], picking up speed is so, so difficult."

Van ‘T Wout of the Netherlands won 1,500 gold in two minutes 12.219 seconds after taking the lead with five laps remaining. The 24-year-old added to his victory in the 1,000 on Thursday.

South Korea's Hwang Dae-heon, the 2022 Olympic champion, grabbed silver in the 1,500 (2:12.304) while Latvia’s Roberts Kruzbergs (2:12.376) took bronze.

Steven Dubois, the 2022 Olympic silver medallist, crashed out with eight-and-a-half laps remaining at Milano Speed Skating Stadium.

The native of Terrebonne, Que., received advancement to the final along with China's Liu Shaoang. Dubois advanced after it was ruled Italy's Thomas Nadalini