Courtney Sarault emerged victorious in the women’s overall competition, securing Canada’s second consecutive team Crystal Globe at the short track World Tour finale held in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The athlete from Moncton claimed silver in the 1,500 meters and then triumphed in the 500m event, accumulating a total of nine medals (five gold, three silver, and one bronze) throughout the four World Tour stops.
At 25 years old, Sarault made history as the first Canadian woman to seize the overall World Tour title, amassing 980 points, a significant 150 points ahead of the runner-up, Corrine Stoddard from the United States.
In the 500m race, Sarault, the reigning Canadian champion, clinched the gold medal by a narrow margin of 0.304 seconds with a time of 42.695. Starting from the second position, she executed an exceptional outside pass on the third lap to overtake the reigning world champion Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands.
Florence Brunelle from Trois-Rivières, Que., also had a strong performance, finishing 0.028 seconds ahead of Velzeboer to claim the bronze medal in 43.031.
Reflecting on her victory, Sarault expressed, “In the 500m, I knew it was my last race so I wanted to give it everything I had and leave it all on the ice. I found myself beside Xandra off the start and I just carried my speed on the outside and took it from there, and it worked out pretty great for me.”
Additionally, Sarault secured the women’s 1,000m title with 300 points on the previous day, earning her first career Crystal Globe by finishing 70 points ahead of Belgium’s Hanne Desmet after dominating the final race.
The Canadian Ice Maples retained their team title, amassing a total of 31 medals (15 gold, seven silver, and nine bronze), totaling 5,656 points and outperforming the Dutch Lions who secured second place with 4,807 points.
Sarault expressed her team’s confidence and unity, stating, “We knew we were strong coming into the season and that it was our title to defend. We wanted to fuel off that, without putting too much pressure on ourselves. We were very supportive of each other the entire way. We’re super happy and it’s going to be a good night of celebrating for sure.”
The Crystal Globe sweep was completed by Montreal’s William Dandjinou, who clinched the men’s overall title for the second consecutive year. The Canadian team paid tribute to injured teammates Kim Boutin and Maxime Laoun by bringing their photos onto the ice during the team trophy presentation.
The World Tour was condensed from six stops to four to accommodate the Milan-Cortina Olympics, with the results determining quota spots for each country. The Canadian high-performance program will utilize the results to select the five men and five women who will represent Canada in Italy, with the roster to be announced in the coming weeks.
