Canadians Blais, Boutin, Dubois win bronze medals at short track World Cup

TORINO, Italy — Cedrik Blais earned his second consecutive bronze medal on the speedskating World Cup circuit, taking third place in the men’s 500-metre race Saturday on a three-medal day for Canadian skaters.

Saturday’s bronze matched Blais’ career-best third place finish last weekend in Germany. 

The Chateauguay, Que., native finished fourth but was promoted to the podium after teammate Samuel Girard was penalized for a push from behind that caused Blais to fall during the race.

Girard, of Ferland-et-Boilleau, Que., finished fourth in the distance. South Korea’s Dae Heon Hwang topped the podium and Shaolin Sandor Liu of Hungary won silver.

“I am happy to have put myself in the final today and earned a medal, but I didn’t reach the podium in the best way,” said Blais. “Sam caught on a cone in the fourth corner and passed too close to me. But that’s short track. We can’t always control everything in a race.”

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Kim Boutin of Sherbrooke, Que., earned a bronze medal in the women’s 500.

After being called back to the line three times to restart the race, Boutin finished the distance in 44.184 seconds, behind hometown favourite Martina Valcepina of Italy and current World Cup leader Natalia Maliszewska of Poland.

“The final was a big race with lots of action,” Boutin said. “I’m not someone who tires when I have to restart a course so luckily I wasn’t too impacted by that situation. The other skaters were really quick on their starts, so I had to be in good form. I’m very happy with how it turned out.”

Steven Dubois of Lachenaie, Que., also won a bronze medal, finishing third in the men’s 1,500.

The Canadian Press