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The 2026 Winter Olympics in northern Italy are now less than four months away. And one of the first significant events on the road to these Games takes place in Canada this weekend as the short track speed skating World Tour opens at Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena.
If you’re not familiar, the World Tour (formerly the World Cup) is a series of global competitions for the planet’s top short track skaters. Typically, there are six stops on the tour. But this season it’s been reduced to four to make room for the Olympics. Montreal hosts the first two (this week and next), then it’s off to Poland (Nov. 20-23) and the Netherlands (Nov. 27-30). The world championships will also take place in Montreal in March, just a few weeks after the Olympics.
The first two days of each World Tour meet are devoted to qualifying for the medal rounds, which happen Saturday and Sunday. There are three individual distances for both men and women (500m, 1,000m, 1,500m) and three total relays (men’s 5,000m, women’s 3,000m and mixed 2,000m). Athletes accumulate points throughout the season, and at the end a Crystal Globe trophy is awarded to the leading skater in each distance and the overall champion. There’s also a team Crystal Globe for the country with the most points.
And, because it’s an Olympic season, this year’s World Tour will help decide how many entries each country receives for the Games and who gets to fill them.
At the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, Canadian short track skaters won four medals — trailing perennial power South Korea (five) while tying host China, the Netherlands and Italy. Steven Dubois accounted for three of them, taking silver in the men’s 1,500m and bronze in the 500m while helping the men’s relay team to a memorable gold in longtime star Charles Hamelin’s final Olympic race. On the women’s side, Kim Boutin took bronze in the 500m for her fourth career Olympic medal.
If I were a betting man, I’d put a steak dinner on Canada’s short trackers winning more than four medals this February in Milan. In fact, there’s a good chance they break the national record of six from the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
Why? Because Canada is, right now, better at short track speed skating than any other country in the world.
Canadians won 37 World Tour medals last season
This became evident last year on the World Tour as Canadians won 37 medals, including 21 gold, across the six stops. That gave Canada, nicknamed the Ice Maples, a runaway victory over the Dutch Lions and Italy’s Gladiators for the team Crystal Globe.
Then, at the season-ending world championships in Beijing, Canadians won an incredible six of the nine events (including a clean sweep of the men’s golds) and 10 total medals. No other country won multiple gold or finished with more than four medals overall.
Dubois led the way with four gold medals, winning the individual men’s 500m and 1,000m events and helping Canada to victory in both the men’s and mixed relays. Fellow Canadian star Will Dandjinou also collected four medals, taking gold in the men’s 1,500m and silver in the 1,000 behind Dubois before joining him for those two relay golds.
Along with sweeping the men’s gold medals, Canada also put skaters on the podium in each of the four women’s events. The relay team won gold, Courtney Sarault earned a pair of silvers in the 1,000m and the 1,500m, and Rikki Doak grabbed a bronze in the 500. Kim Boutin and Florence Brunelle, who teamed with Sarault and Doak for the women’s relay gold, also won the mixed relay alongside Dubois and Dandjinou.
Though Dubois outshined him at the worlds, Dandjinou emerged as the best short track skater in the world last season.
Standing six-foot-three without skates (extremely tall for a short tracker), the 23-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., masterfully blended his power and athleticism with tactical savvy (and a bit of showmanship) to win a global-high eight individual races on the World Tour and capture his first overall Crystal Globe with the 1,000m and 1,500m championships. Dandjinou also helped Canada to the men’s relay title and finished second in the 500m standings to Dubois.
After missing the cut for the 2022 Olympics, Dandjinou is poised to be a big star this winter in Italy. Here’s more on his journey to the top from CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux and here’s more on Canada’s team for the World Tour.
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