Canada’s Heeney captures bronze at junior short-track speedskating worlds

MONTREAL — Canada’s Claudia Heeney captured bronze in the women’s 1,000-metre race on Sunday at the 2019 world junior short-track speedskating championships.  

The 17-year-old from Waterloo, Ont., was in contention from the very start of the final, but her spot on the podium solidified after a collision during the fifth lap took out two of the five skaters in the field. Her time of one minute, 32.422 seconds put her behind just Park Yoon Jung of Korea (1:31.784) and Li Jinyu of China (1:31.258).

“Before the race I was really excited because I knew it was going to be a fun one. And once we started going, I saw a medal within reach and I went for it,” said Heeney, who won three medals at the Canadian junior short track championships in December to earn a spot on the national team for the world championships.

The third-place finish gave Heeney her first-ever world junior championship medal.

“I don’t think I can find a word other than ‘awesome,’” she said.

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“In every round, I gave it my all and fought hard for positioning, and I’m really proud with how things finished.”

Courtney Sarault of Moncton, N.B., who picked up a bronze in the 1,500-metre final on Saturday, was penalized in the quarterfinals of the 1000 metres and finished in 19th.

Sarault wraps up her junior career having captured four medals over the course of three world championship appearances.

Nicolas Perreault of Sherbrooke, Que., finished in ninth in the men’s 1000 metres, coming in fourth place in the B Finals with a time of one minute, 38.507 seconds.

Matej Pederson of Calgary, Alta., earned a spot in the quarters, but a crash put an end to his medal hopes. He finished in 20th.

The Canadian Press