Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault race against Arianna Sighel and Arianna Fontana of Italy.Claudia Greco/Reuters
As short track speed skater Danaé Blais felt herself rocking off her edge, a flash of panic hit her chest.
Canada had been out in front for most of the women’s 3,000-metre relay, but as the 26-year-old struggled to catch her balance, her Italian opponent shot past her.
Then the two-time Olympian’s training kicked in. Blais dug deep and found her stride again on a night when many skaters took devastating falls. With the lost momentum, Canada was soon overtaken again, this time by Korea, but the women never stopped pushing and held onto the last podium spot.
“We’re prepared for everything in a race and we work super hard to actually not panic when something happens,” Blais said afterward.
With Wednesday’s bronze medal from Courtney Sarault, Kim Boutin, Florence Brunelle and Blais, Canadian short track is still on pace to achieve its goal of winning more medals at an Olympics than ever before.
After Wednesday night, the team has five with two medal opportunities remaining. The previous record of six was set in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
For Boutin, the 3,000 m relay is her sixth Olympic medal overall and the second one from these Games. Speaking after the medal ceremony, she said that in short track, they know to expect the unpredictable. But the difference between Milan Cortina and the Games in Beijing four years ago, when the women’s relay missed the podium, is that the skaters have learned to manage the chaos in the moment.
“I think we really stay calm and that’s the difference,” the 31-year-old Boutin said. “I think we can be really proud.”
Brunelle added that bobbles and falling are part of the sport. She herself had a minor wrong step on Wednesday, but also pushed through.
“That’s short track,” Brunelle said, a bronze medal hanging around her neck. “This is what happens all the time.”
Still for Blais, she recognizes things could have turned out differently.
In the race, a blade clip already took out the Dutch team. Her trouble began in her final exchange.
“I wanted to give a bit more power in my blades, but for some reason that I can’t explain to you – because it’s short track – I slipped in a really weird way that I never have,” Blais said. “I had a moment of panic. I was just thinking, ‘Stay on your leg. Try to block the Italian.’ ... I stayed on my feet. Thank god.”
Wednesday’s bronze is Sarault’s fourth of these Games. She said each one is special, but winning with her 3,000 m teammates had even more meaning.
“We’ve grown so strong and so close over the past four years,” she said. “We’re like all sisters and I love them. ... We’re together all the time. We’re in the basement of the rink, crying, pushing our limits and I see them pushing themselves and they see me pushing myself. So it’s just nice to experience this with them.”
Shortly after the women took bronze, their teammate Steven Dubois won gold in the 500 m.
The men’s 5,000 m relay and the women’s 1,500 m is scheduled for Friday.
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