Thursday, 4 March 2021
China and South Korea have withdrawn from this weekend s World Short Track Speed Skating Championships because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two countries join Britain in deciding to not send athletes to the event in Dordrecht in The Netherlands, which begins tomorrow and concludes on Sunday (March 7), due to the coronavirus crisis.
The competition will be only the second major International Skating Union short track event of the season, and the first for athletes outside of Europe.
Only four skaters have won the overall men s title at the World Championships from outside of China and South Korea this century.
Enfin une 1re compétition pour les patineurs sur courte piste journaldemontreal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journaldemontreal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Canada names short-track speedskating team for world championship
Canada s Charles Hamelin, front, competes in the quarterfinals of the 1000 meter short track speed skating championships in Montreal, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020. Ten Canadian short-track speed skaters will compete for the first time this season at the world championship next month.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter McCabe February 23, 2021 - 8:45 AM
MONTREAL - Ten Canadian short-track speed skaters will compete for the first time this season at the world championship next month.
The races in Dordrecht, the Netherlands March 5-7 will mark Canada s first competition since the COVID-19 pandemic brought competition to a halt last March.
All six World Cups, including those scheduled for Montreal in Laval, Que., in November 2020, were cancelled.
Charles Hamelin leads the way for Canada, competing in the world championship for the 17th time. He has reached the overall podium seven times at the worlds and has a total of 36 medals.
Steven Dubois, Courtney Sarault and Alyson Charles will each compete at their second worlds.
Florence Brunelle, Danae Blais, Claudia Gagnon, Maxime Laoun, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and William Dandjinou will make their world championship debut.
Three-time Olympic medallist Kim Boutin has opted not to compete. I feel really excited and blessed to get the chance to finally skate again, Sarault said in a statement. We faced a lot of challenges this year, so it will be interesting to see how our year of just training and no competitions pays off.
Canada names short-track speedskating team for world championship humboldtjournal.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from humboldtjournal.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.