Florence Brunelle wins double gold at Canadian short track championships

Florence Brunelle captured double gold on Friday at the Canadian short track speed skating championships in Montreal.

The Trois-Rivières, Que., native won the women's 1,000 metres in one minute 31.935, just outstretching Courtney Sarault at the finish line. Sarault, a four-time Olympic medallist at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, was penalized for kicking out at the finish.

Danaé Blais (1:32.595) of Châteauguay, Que., grabbed silver and Kiera Pagé of Saint-Félicien, Que., earned bronze (1:53.263) thanks to Sarault's infraction. It was Pagé's first career podium finish at a Canadian championship.

Florence Brunelle captures Canadian women's 1,000m short track title in a photo finish

The 22-year-old Brunelle followed that up with a win in the second 1,500 of the competition in 2:30.640. Ann-Sophie Bachand (2:30.936) of Sherbrooke, Que., and Claudia Gagnon (2:31.021) of La Baie, Que., took silver and bronze, respectively.

Speed skaters Sarault, Roussel victorious in 1,500m races at short track nationals

"I'm starting to feel the fatigue, but I trained super hard heading into this competition and things went very well today. Regardless of my results yesterday, I was happy with my day," Brunelle said.  "Today, I felt even more connected to the ice and while I won two gold medals, I was also much happier with the way that I skated overall."

On the men's side, Félix Roussel earned his third consecutive gold at the event with a win in the 1,000 after winning the 1,500 and 500 on Thursday. The 25-year-old Sherbrooke native (1:25.165) beat out Mathieu Pelletier (1:25.250) of Laval, Que., and Maxime Laoun (1:25.348) of Montreal.

However, Montreal's William Dandjinou ended Roussel's chase for four golds by winning the second