Weekend recap: Canada's short track skaters shine again
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With the winter Olympic sports season really kicking into high gear this past weekend, Canadian athletes had plenty of medal chances on the ice and snow. The results were mixed. Let's recap.
Short track speed skating: Canadians don't miss a beat
Rust never sleeps, but it didn't catch up to Canada's short track skaters after a month-long layoff.
After rocketing to 14 medals (including nine gold) across the first two World Tour meets at Montreal's Maurice Richard Arena, Canadians piled up another seven at the third stop in Beijing over the weekend. Danaé Blais led the way, winning the women's 1,000 metres for her first international solo victory and helping the women's relay team to gold.
Félix Roussel won the men's 1,000m to give Canada three golds for the weekend. Florence Brunelle took silver in the women's 500m for her first career individual medal, and Rikki Doak joined her on that podium with a bronze. Willam Dandjinou crashed in the men's 1,000m but took silver in the 1,500 to stay atop the overall standings. Steven Dubois is in fifth place after picking up a silver in the 500m.
The World Tour continues this weekend in the short track hotbed of Seoul.
Figure skating: Canada shut out at the Grand Prix Final
For the first time since 2019, no Canadians reached the podium at this exclusive event for the top six in each discipline on the Grand Prix tour.
Reigning pairs world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamp would have been a great bet for a medal after winning both of their Grand Prix assignments. But they withdrew due to an illness, leaving Canada