MONTREAL — Olympic speedskater Courtney Sarault was filled with doubt ahead of the Canadian short-track national championships at the end of September.
“I went in struggling a little bit mentally,” she said. “And at the start of the season I'm not normally my strongest.
“There were a lot of doubts and I was not the good, confident Courtney that I normally am.”
Despite it, Sarault, who describes herself as “really stubborn,” won the women’s national title by defeating three-time reigning champion Kim Boutin, who came in second.
After proving to herself she could win under those circumstances, the 23-year-old from Moncton, N.B., is hoping to carry that momentum as the International Skating Union World Cup short-track season kicks off.
Sarault is one of 12 Canadian skaters taking the ice in Montreal as 33 countries and 184 athletes get set for the first two World Cup events this season. The first competition takes place from Friday to Sunday at Maurice Richard Arena. The second is the following weekend, from Oct. 27 to 29.
Some Canadian skaters will then take part in a third straight competition at home as Laval, Que., hosts the Four Continents Speed Skating Championships from Nov. 3 to 5 at Place Bell.
Sarault, a seven-time medallist at the world championships, underwent an extensive training regimen over the summer to build up some strength in her legs that she felt she was missing.
She says it was “a little scary” going into nationals with more load in her legs, but that her stubbornness helped overpower any exhaustion.
"If there's two laps left when I realize that 'oh my god, I'm in fourth and there's two laps left,' I'm too stubborn to not like give everything,” she said “So I just figure it out anyways."
Boutin, a four-time Olympic medallist, will miss the first four World Cup events of the season to focus on her studies in special education.
Sarault doesn’t feel any added pressure after finishing ahead of Boutin to win gold at nationals.
"I think that's always there for me,” said Sarault. “That was a goal I had in mind to get the title … obviously, this season I do want to be on the podium and I do want to be challenging against the best. Nothing really changed because of the Canadian title.”
DANDJINOU BREAKING THROUGH
William Dandjinou dethroned three-time reigning champion Steven Dubois to claim the men's national title last month.
Dandjinou says the win boosted his confidence, but he believes he still has so much to prove.
“It's important for me to stay level-headed, and really go into that competition with a hungry mindset,” he said. “I'm not like, 'oh, I'm the Canadian champion, I don't have to work anymore.' I'm here to win."
The 22-year-old from Montreal enters his hometown events still seeking the first individual World Cup medal of his career.
Team Canada coach Sebastien Cros believes Dandjinou has been knocking on the door for a couple years, but has struggled with consistency in the past.
"He'd have some good races and some less good races, pretty inconsistent. But we know his talent, this year he's succeeded in getting consistent results in every distance,” said Cros. “Now he has to repeat that on the international stage, but clearly he's at the level where he can get to finals and podiums."
Dubois, Canada’s most recognizable skater for the events as a gold, silver and bronze-medal winner at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, gave credit to Dandjinou for a performance at nationals that proved too tough to beat.
“He raced to win and it really showed,” said Dubois. “He was in front, he went fast. I was trying different strategies to beat him and he was just strong."
GOOD TO BE HOME
Three skaters this weekend are from Montreal and nine are from Quebec, while the national high-performance short-track program is based at Maurice Richard Arena.
The Canadians are excited to have that home-ice advantage.
"We're in our regular routine, there's just a little more people here to watch us train, and that's great,” said Cros. “Whether you try to avoid it or not, there's some fatigue that accumulates over time (from travelling), so we have that advantage.”
Getting extra motivation out of the skaters shouldn’t be a problem with their families filling the stands either.
"For me personally, it means skating in front of my family, skating in front of people who've supported me my whole career,” said Dandjinou about the significance of skating at home. “This is about giving back to those people."
Competition begins on Friday with qualification followed by quarterfinals, semifinals and finals on Saturday and Sunday.
FULL TEAM
Women — Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.), Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.), Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.), Claudia Gagnon (La Baie, Que.), Renée Steenge (Brampton, Ont.), Rikki Doak (Fredericton).
Men — Steven Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.), William Dandjinou (Montreal), Jordan Pierre-Gilles (Sherbrooke, Que.), Pascal Dion (Montreal), Maxime Laoun (Montreal), Félix Roussel (Sherbrooke).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2023.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
