Charles Hamelin of Ste-Julie, Que., and Marie-Eve Drolet of Laterriere, Que., just missed the podium at a World Cup short track speed skating event in Shanghai, China on Saturday.
Hamelin could almost feel the medal around his neck, but a bad move by a Korean skater pushed him off the podium in the 1,500m race. Meanwhile, Drolet finished just off the podium with a fourth place in the women's 1,000m race.
"It was actually one of the best 1500m I had in my career according to our coaching team," explained Hamelin.
With two laps to go, he was leading the pack, but when Korean Kim Byeong-Jun attempted an outside pass on him, he dragged him behind, forcing Hamelin to break a bit so he wouldn't fall, which allowed the rest of the skaters to pass him. The Korean was disqualified for his move, but as it was a final, Hamelin's ranking can't be changed, and he ended up 7th. Korean Kim Cheol Min won the race in 2:16.190, followed by Song Weilong of China (2:16.191) and Maxime Chataignier of France (2:16.315).
Liam McFarlane of Medicine Hat, Alta.,was fifth in his semi-final, for 15th place overall, and Dustin Miller of Kitchener, Ont., was eliminated in the repechage, leaving him 27th.
Drolet, who was the only other Canadian in a final, finished behind Cho Ha-Ri of Korea, who snatched the gold medal, and two Chinese athletes, Olympic Champion Zhou Yang and Liu Qiuhong.
"When there are four girls in a final, of course you don't want to end up fourth, but I'm happy with my attitude today, the Koreans and Chinese didn't intimidate me, I raced to win," said Drolet.
Also in the women's 1000m, Gabrielle Waddell of Red Deer, Alta., finished 5th in her semi-final race, which places her 9th in the overall ranking. Andrea Do-Duc of Montreal took 17th place after being eliminated in the repechage final.
In the women's 1,500m, Laurie Marceau of Dolbeau-Mistassini, Que., was the top Canadian, taking the third position in the B Final, for 9th place overall. Teammate Jessica Gregg of Edmonton was eliminated in semi-final and ends up 14th.
Michael Gilday of Yellowknife, NT finished second in the B final of the men's 1,000m of Lachenaie, Que., finishes 8th in the B final while Remi Beaulieu of Alma, Que., ended up 13th after being eliminated in the quarter final round.
Gregg, Drolet, Marceau and Waddell teammed up for the women's relay semi-final, in which they took second place behind Korea and just ahead of Russia. The Canadian team will race in the final against Korea, China and Italy on Sunday.
The men's relay team of Hamelin, McFarlane, Gilday and Jean also took second place in their race. Korea won while two other teams fell during the race. The Canadians will face Korea, China and the Netherlands in Sunday's final.