St-Gelais, women’s relay team reach podium at short-track speedskating stop

Dec 11, 2016 | 9:03 AM

SHANGHAI — Marianne St-Gelais won her second individual bronze medal, then helped Canada win a relay silver in World Cup short-track speedskating action Sunday.

St-Gelais, from Saint-Felicien, Que., skated to third place in the women’s 1,000 metres. Though much like her bronze-medal performance in Saturday’s 500 metres, the result left her a little displeased.

St-Gelais was leading the 1,000 with two laps to go while Valerie Maltais of Saguenay, Que., was second. But South Korean skaters Min Jeong Choi and Ji Yoo Kim overtook them on the outside. Choi and Kim ended up winning gold and silver, respectively.

“I’m a little disappointed by what happened,” said St-Gelais. “I wanted to block the South Koreans at the end because I knew they were going to try to go by us on the outside. I didn’t have enough energy left, I think.”

The day was not over for St-Gelais and Maltais, however. They later teamed up with Kasandra Bradette of St-Felicien and Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Que., to win Canada’s third medal of the stop with a silver in the women’s relay.

South Korea earned gold, while bronze went to the Netherlands.

“We had a very good race,” said St-Gelais. “We applied everything we’ve talked about in the past. It gave us a great second-place finish and we’re very happy about that.”

It was a disappointing World Cup stop for the men, who failed to qualify for a spot in the A final in any of Sunday’s events.

The Canadian team will head to Gangneung, South Korea, for the fourth stage of the World Cup season/ The event will be held on the ice rink that will host the Olympic short track events at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The Canadian Press