Canada’s Steven Dubois wins bronze in men’s 500m short track event

By Sportsnet staff

Canadian short-track speedskater Steven Dubois won a bronze medal in the men’s 500 metres on Sunday at the Beijing Olympics.

Dubois finished third behind Shaoang Liu of Hungary and Konstantin Ivliev of Russia.

The 24-year-old native of Terrebonne, Que., also won silver in the 1,500 metres after missing out on the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics when he was named an alternate.

It was Canada’s 14th medal of the Games — one gold, four silver and nine bronze.

The judges awarded Dubois a spot in the final when Hwang Daeheon took him out in the last turn of the semifinal when the Canadian was in second place — normally the cut-off for reaching the final.

Meanwhile, the Canadian women’s short-track team fell just short of the podium, finishing fourth in the 3,000-metre relay on Sunday.

Kim Boutin, Courtney Sarault, Florence Brunelle and Alyson Charles lost their grip on a medal in the final couple of laps of the four-team final.

The Netherlands won gold, South Korea was second and China was third.

“We had to give everything on the ice and that’s what we did. I think we know that,” Boutin, fighting back tears, told CBC.

Canada was third late in the race, but Sarault, running the anchor leg, could not beat out her foes.

It marked Canada’s seventh fourth-place finish at the Games.

It also was Canada’s second fourth-place finish in a row in the 3,000-metre women’s relay at the Olympics. Canada had been on the podium in the event at every Olympics before 2018 since the sport made its debut in 1992.

The result denied Boutin a fifth career Olympic medal.


RELATED: Daily Recap: Canada’s results at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics


In curling, Brad Gushue’s men’s team got what they were looking for in a comfortable 10-5 win over American John Shuster, the defending Olympic champion. The women’s squad skipped by Jennifer Jones, however, had another frustrating performance in an 8-4 loss to Switzerland.

Both Gushue and Jones were coming off inauspicious starts that included two-game losing streaks heading into Sunday’s matchups.

Gushue, the 2006 champion, and his teammates looked refreshed and energized on Sunday, taking a lead with a four-point steal in the second end and cruising from there.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost two in a row,” Gushue said. “We were itching to get back out on the ice and get a win.”

Canada, which improved to 3-2, threw 91 per cent overall to 76 per cent for the Americans.

“They have a huge belief in each other _ even after a tough game _ that they’re going to come out and play well again,” said Canada alternate Marc Kennedy. “You saw no doubt in them today and that’s what we’re going to have to see.”

Gushue’s squad will look to solidify their spot in the standings Monday against Italy.

Jones, who led Canada to a gold medal in 2014, gave up back-to-back two-point steals before Swiss skip Silvana Tirinzoni ran her out of rocks in the 10th end. Canada fell to 1-3 while Switzerland improved to 5-0.

Jones will face Russia and Britain on Monday, and needs to win both to get her team back in medal contention.

“It’s super disappointing with this loss,” Jones said. “We’re going to have to go out tomorrow, one game at a time and one shot at a time, and see what happens at the end of the week.”

“There’s never mountains to climb,” she added. “We get to do what we love to do.”

For a nation that prides itself on being a curling powerhouse, Canada’s recent Olympic results have not exactly inspired.

The men’s and women’s teams were kept off the podium at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Canada had won a medal in both events every Olympics since 1998, when men’s curling made its return and women’s curling made its debut.

Canada did win mixed doubles gold in Pyeongchang, but failed to repeat in Beijing when a crushing extra-end loss to Italy to end the preliminary round denied the team of John Morris and Rachel Homan a spot in the semifinals.

Monobob made its Olympic debut, and Canadian bobsledder Christine de Bruin put herself in a good position to win a medal. The native of Stony Plain, Alta., was second after the event’s first two heats with a total time of two minutes 10.14 seconds.

De Bruin will need to be near-perfect in Monday’s final two heats to win gold. She trails Kaillie Humphries of the United States by a considerable margin of 1.04 seconds.

“It’s a consistency race,” de Bruin said. “Anything can happen.”

Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah was 10th with a time of 2:11.28.

Humphries raced for Canada at three previous Olympics, winning two gold medals and a bronze in the two-women event. She switched to representing the United States after the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

In hockey, Canada’s men’s team sailed past host-nation China 5-0 to wrap up the group stage.

Kent Johnson and Eric O’Dell had a goal and an assist each, while Ben Street, Adam Tambellini and Corban Knight also scored for Canada. Matt Tomkins made 26 saves.

The Canadian team’s 4-2 loss to the United States on Saturday means they finish second in Group A.

Canada will now play in the tournament’s qualification round as the No. 5 seed in a rematch against China on Tuesday for a spot in the quarterfinals after Finland beat Sweden 4-3 in overtime and the U.S. downed Germany 3-2.

Elsewhere, Erik Read of Canmore, Alta., was the top Canadian in the men’s giant slalom, finishing in 13th place, and Canada came 11th in the men’s 4×10-kilometre cross-country ski relay.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today