Reigning Olympic champion wins second consecutive 500m crown; women’s team finishes fourth in Kim Boutin’s final relay

MONTREAL, QUEBEC – A sellout crowd at the Maurice Richard Arena were treated to a golden performance in the 500m from Steven Dubois on Saturday at the ISU World Short Track Championships in Montreal.

Nearly 5,000 passionate fans witnessed Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.), who won 500m Olympic gold only a few short weeks ago at Milano-Cortina 2026, defend the World Championship title he earned in that same distance at last season’s competition in Beijing.

Battling illness since his return from the Olympics, Dubois made the decision to drop the 1000m and 1500m from his schedule so that he could focus on retaining his 500m crown, and that decision paid off handsomely.

He cruised to victory in both his quarterfinal and semifinal, which set him up with a highly advantageous inside starting position for the final. An explosive start helped the 28-year-old cross the finish line with a time of 40.153, securing gold ahead of Jens Van’T Wout of the Netherlands (40.329) and Furkan Akar of Türkiye (40.641).

“Honestly, I really don’t know what to say as I wasn’t expecting this at all. I did not expect this after the beginning of the season I had. The Olympic Games were a big high for me, but I was brought back down to earth when I got back, getting sick twice since my return. I got here today and the crowd was super hyped. It feels really nice to defend the ‘fastest man in the world’ title in front of them.

Steven Dubois

The 28-year-old joins Charles Hamelin (2) and François-Louis Tremblay (2) as the only Canadian to win multiple titles in the distance. He also earned 500m silver at the same event in 2023.

Photo: Greg Kolz

Photo: Antoine Saito

Photo: Antoine Saito

Canadian skaters had a few other chances to reach the World Championship podium Saturday but fell just short.

William Dandjinou (Montreal, Que.), Félix Roussel (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Maxim Laoun (Montreal, Que.) all reached the 1500m A Final to kick-off the afternoon but came away empty handed.

Race leader Dandjinou fell with three laps to go, allowing Roussel to grab poll position. The 24-year-old exited a corner too wide in the final lap, which allowed three skaters to squeeze by him and push him back to sixth place, two positions behind teammate Laoun, who finished the distance in fourth.

The day ended in heartbreak for the women’s 3000m relay team comprised of Kim Boutin (Sherbrooke, Que.), Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.), Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.) and Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.), who settled for a fourth-place finish in what was the final women’s relay race of Boutin’s legendary career.

Brunelle pushed Sarault into the last podium spot near the end of the race, but the 25-year-old four-time Olympic medalist was unable to hold her edge during an inside pass attempt from her Chinese competitor with two laps remaining, causing her to crash into the protective matts. The officials concluded there was not enough contact to warrant a penalty, confirming medals for the Netherlands (4:10.519), Italy (4:10.570) and China (4:11.185).

Photo: Antoine Saito

Photo: Antoine Saito

The ISU World Short Track Championships conclude tomorrow with titles up for grabs in the 2000m mixed relay, women’s 500m and 1500m, and men’s 1000m and 5000m relay. Races will be live streamed on both CBC Sports and Radio-Canada Sports digital platforms starting at 1:30pm ET.

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