More than 3,000 short track fans roared as Felix Roussel crossed the finish line, finger raised, to capture gold in the 5,000m men’s relay on Sunday afternoon to conclude the ISU Short Track World Tour in Montreal. Roussel (Sherbrooke, Que.), Steven Dubois (Lachenaie, Que.), Mathieu Pelletier (Laval, Que.) and Maxime Laoun (Montreal, Que.) capped off a tremendously successful homestand for the Ice Maples, who finished the weekend with nine medals, by coming out on top of a loaded relay final. The foursome executed their race plan to perfection, with Dubois, among others, making several beautiful passes to gain position. The Canadians would cruise to the finish line unchallenged after both the Netherlands and South Korea fell without contact with eight laps remaining. The Canucks finished the 48-lap marathon with a time of 6:59.327 and were joined on the podium by China (7:01.305) and South Korea (7:06.217). “It’s incredible to finish a weekend like this, and with a crowd like this! It’s really motivating,” said Roussel, who earlier in the day teamed up with Laoun, Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) and Danaé Blais (Châteauguay, Que.) to reach the podium in the 2,000-metres mixed relay, where they earned silver (2:37.373) behind the Dutch (2:37.131) and ahead of the Chinese (2:37.585). Blais won the first 500-metres medal in her career shortly after, using an explosive start to overtake Xandra Velzeboer from the Netherlands and move to the front in the A Final. The Dutch speedster caught up with the Canadian in the final lap and grabbed gold in 42.066, ahead of Blais (42.195) and Sarault (42.332). Teammate Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.) was fourth (42.506). Also hitting a career milestone on Sunday was Pelletier, who captured the first individual distance medal on the World Tour with silver in the 1,000 metres. The youngster skated from the front for much of the race, unfazed by the pressure of competing in an A Final on home ice but would later get passed by Dutch phenom Jens van’T Wout (1:26.706) with two laps remaining. The 20-year-old Pelletier managed to hold off Polish skater Michal Niewinski, who rounded out the podium in bronze medal position (1:26.860). The Ice Maples currently sit atop the ISU Team Crystal Globe rankings with 1,836 points, ahead of the Korean White Tigers (1,754 points) and Dutch Lions (1,556 points). Sarault is the top-ranked female skater with 304 points, while Roussel is ranked second on the men’s side with 254 points. The ISU Short Track World Tour returns in a few weeks with three consecutive stops in Asia. Athletes will visit Seoul (Nov. 20-22) before travelling to China for events in Shanghai (Nov. 27-29) and Beijing (Dec. 4-6). This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2026.
