Guillaume Bastille, médaillé d'argent sur 1000m aux Jeux universitaires

The Canadian University Games Short Track Team had a successful closing day of competition in Harbin, breaking through for 3 medals in the 1000m and relay events.

Guillaume Bastille led the way for Canada, winning silver in the 1000m behind triple gold medalist Lee Seung-Hoon of Korea. A surprise bronze went to the Russian skater Zakharov. The racing in today's mens competition was very tactical with some very tough heats featuring Canadian, Chinese and Korean skaters right away in the first round. Both Alex Boisvert-Lacroix and Richard Shoebridge were able come out ahead of the Chinese skaters and qualify for the quarterfinals. Liam McFarlane and Guillaume had an easier go of it in the first round.

In the quarterfinals, Alex once again came up against three asian skaters but this time was not able to overcome the Korean and Chinese skaters. Liam was in a wild quarterfinal, crossing the line 4th after getting caught up in a crash with 3 to go involving the korean skater. 2 disqualifications meant however that he would skate in the semi-final. Richard and Guillaume were able to qualify without much trouble.

In the semis, Liam's good fortune turned against him as he was disqualified for impeding with 2 laps to go. It was Liam's second dq of the competition and the second time he (and most of us) were left scratching our heads. The other semi had the the top 2 Koreans squaring off against Guillaume and Richard. Lee Seung-Hoon had the lead mid-race with Guillaume and Richard sitting 2nd and 4th respectively. In attempting to squeeze into 3rd, Richard bumped the Korean skater and was disqualified for impeding.

The final was a fast race, controlled at the front by Guillaume and the two Koreans. With one Korean slowing down the pack in the lead with about 4 to go, Lee was able to escape by the outside. Guillaume was able to get around the Korean and the Chinese skater Chen and gap the rest of the pack for the silver.

Final A 1000m Men
1 087 LEE SEUNG HOON KOR 01:28.064
2 062 BASTILLE GUILLAUME CAN 01:28.838
3 100 ZAKHAROV RUSLAN RUS 01:29.131
4 088 JANG WON HOON KOR 01:29.204
5 068 CHEN XIN CHN 01:29.545

As expected, the women's 1000m was dominated by the Chinese and Koreans with 2 skaters from each country represented in the final. 3 of the Canadians were eliminated in the quarterfinals (Mendes-Campeau, Lambert & Waddell) while Nita Avrith was knocked out in a tough heat that featured Chinese and Korean skaters.

Both relay teams were able to mount the podium at the end of the day, ensuring that the entire team would return to Canada with a medal in hand.

The women's team of Plamondon, Mendes-Campeau, Lambert and Avrith skated most of the race well off the pace of Korea and China but managed to keep a small gap over Japan. A slight stumble by Annik on an exchange allowed the Japanese to get closer but near the end of the race one of their skaters crashed, virtually assuring Canada of the bronze. The skater was injured though, so the race was stopped after 23 laps and re-started. The girls were quite fatigued and fought hard early on to stay with Korea and China but eventually switched into cruise mode and settled for bronze.

Relay 3000m Ladies
1 China CHN 04:18.676
008 ZHOU YANG
009 SUN LINLIN
010 MENG XIAOXUE
011 LIU QIUHONG

2 Korea KOR 04:22.824
024 YANG SHIN YOUNG
025 JUNG BA RA
026 KIM HYE KYUNG
027 CHOI JUNG WON

3 Canada CAN 04:32.728
003 LAMBERT VALERIE
004 PLAMONDON ANNIK
005 AVRITH NITA
007 M-C. MARIE-ANDREE

Japan JPN DNF
017 SAKASHITA YASUKO
018 SHIMIZU SAYURI
019 OGUCHI ERI
020 KOYAMA YUKARI

The men's relay was expected to be much closer. Skating for Canada were, in order, Boisvert-Lacroix, Bastille, Shoebridge and Derraugh. Canada took the lead off the start and were passed by Korea after 8 laps. The Koreans quickly accelerated the pace but fell 6 laps later prior to an exchange. Poor coverage ensured that they would not catch the leaders. The Chinese took the lead after that and the pace remained quick, soon forcing the Japanese team to fade. The top two teams continued to chase each other through the remainder of the race but ultimately the Chinese were able to create an insurmountable gap on Canada with about 5 laps to go. Perhaps our men were paying the price for their success in the 1000m in which we knocked out 2 Chinese skaters in the 1st round. Bastille had one last obstacle to overcome on the last lap before Canada could claim silver, narrowly avoiding a collision with a Japanese skater who was resting on the track. The Koreans never gave up and caught the Japanese on the last corner for bronze.

Relay 5000m Men
1 China CHN 07:00.424
067 GAO MING
068 CHEN XIN
069 WANG HONGYANG
070 ZHANG ZHIQIANG

2 Canada CAN 07:03.929
062 BASTILLE GUILLAUME
063 BOISVERT-LACROIX ALEX
065 SHOEBRIDGE RICHARD
066 DERRAUGH TYLER

3 Korea KOR 07:05.141
086 KIM SEOUNG IL
087 LEE SEUNG HOON
088 JANG WON HOON
089 YUN TAE SIK

4 Japan JPN 07:05.963
079 SAKURAI YUMA
080 ITO JUNJI
081 UEMURA DAISUKE
083 MIURA YU

We're coming home!