World short track speed skating championships in Montreal rescheduled to April

The world short track speed skating championships at Montreal's Maurice Richard Arena have been rescheduled to April 8-10.

The event was originally scheduled for March 18-20, but the International Skating Union and Speed Skating Canada decided to reschedule it due to COVID-19 developments and the conflict in Ukraine.

The world championships will be the first international short track event hosted in Canada since the Four Continents Championships in January 2020.

Canada won four short track medals last month at the Beijing Olympics, including gold in the 5,000-metre relay. That result gave Charles Hamelin a sixth Olympic medal — including four gold — to tie Cindy Klassen as the most decorated Canadian Winter Olympian.

The 37-year-old Hamelin, from Ste-Julie, Que., will skate for a final time in Montreal before retiring after a distinguished 20-year international career.

Hamelin will be joined by fellow Beijing 2022 men's relay medallist Steven Dubois, Pascal Dion, Maxime Laoun and Jordan Pierre-Gilles, as well as 500m bronze medallist and world record holder Kim Boutin.

WATCH | Hamelin makes history in final Olympic short track race: