Don’t stop: Canadian short track champ Steven Dubois pushes through injury toward Olympics

For someone considered one of the fastest short track speed skaters in the world, Steven Dubois was in unfamiliar territory at the beginning of this critical Olympic season.

He had to stop.

The 28-year-old from Terrebonne, Que., skated to four world championship titles for Canada in the spring, but by the summer he was hampered by a leg injury.

“[Pain] was radiating in by the adductor muscle. We spend our time in a bent position, so it was kind of pinching and not very nice in the general [leg] area. It was a bit of a struggle for, maybe, six weeks leading up to the Canadian championships,” Dubois said.

By the time he arrived at that event in late August – the unofficial start of the season – Dubois’ condition deteriorated to the point where he couldn’t race.

“I wanted to try the competition anyway and then the first day we kind of decided it was not really feasible or actually possible to race in my top condition,” he said.

Canada's Steven Dubois captures 500m gold at short track worlds

An MRI revealed the extent of his injury: a partial tear in the labrum of his hip. That ring of cartilage lines the hip joint socket and cushions the joint, acting like a rubber seal to connect the thighbone securely within the hip socket. Dubois thought his season – headlined by the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games – was in serious jeopardy.

“I was sad…it was the first actual injury I've had in my career, so I've been pretty lucky with that. I've never missed a competition. I've [fallen], I've been hurt, but not to a point where I actually felt the need to stop,” the three-time Olympic medallist said.

“So, it was a very emotional blow. It took a lot for me to actually stop the competition.”

Dubois will be in action with his Ice Maples