The 2022 Canadian short track champions were crowned on Sunday with Kim Boutin and Steven Dubois claiming the national titles at the Canadian Short Track Championships in Quebec City.
It was the third successive national title for both Olympians.
Boutin, a native of Sherbrooke, Que., gained both the 500m-2 (43.665) and 1,000m-2 (1:37.438) to bring her medal tally to four through the three days of competition (three gold, one silver). The four-time Olympic medalist ended the weekend with 19,000 points — 1,800 points clear of second-place finisher Courtney Sarault.
Renée Steenge (43.758) and Rikki Doak (43.848) finished second and third respectively in the 500m, while Sarault (1:38.007) and Steenge (1:38.162) rounded out the podium in the 1,000m.
Dubois concluded atop the men’s leaderboard with 20,000 points after winning four gold medals — two in the 500m and one each in the 1,000m and 1,500m.
Fellow Olympian Pascal Dion finished 3,000 points behind Dubois for second place.
Dubois, a two-time Olympic medallist from Lachenaie, Que., posted a time of 40.574 to defeat Maxime Laoun (40.807) and Mathieu Pelletier (41.852) in the 500m. He followed it up by defeating Dion (1:28.394) and Félix Roussel (1:28.501) in the 1,000m with a time of 1:28.271.
Canada’s short track team now turns their attention to the international season with the ISU World Cup Short Track in Montreal coming up on Oct. 28.
Valérie Maltais and Connor Howe each won their first national titles in the mass start later in the day to wrap up the Canadian Long Track Championships.
Maltais, a native of Saguenay, Que., finished in 8:49.716 to edge Maddison Pearman (8:49.721) for the top spot. Hometown skater Béatrice Lamarche (8:50.710) also reached the podium for her third bronze medal of the weekend.
Howe (7:49.623) won an exciting men’s mass start that saw numerous lead changes, while contenders Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu and Graeme Fish suffered falls. Hayden Mayeur (7:49.880) and Jake Weidemann (7:49.913) won silver and bronze, respectively.
Howe, a 22-year-old from Canmore, Alta., was previously crowned the 1,500m champion on Saturday.
The international long track season kicks off with World Cup stops in Norway and the Netherlands in November before heading back to Canada for three competitions in December.
The ISU Four Continents Championships are scheduled to run from Dec. 2-4 in Quebec City, followed by World Cups 3 and 4 in Calgary on the weekends of Dec. 9-11 and 16-18.
