Kim Boutin’s bronze medal in PyeongChang in the 500m had been clouded by ensuing threats, but she overcame that ordeal to climb onto the podium again, this time in Beijing.

The Quebecer won the bronze medal in the 500m event on Monday for the first medal for the Canadian team in short track at these Olympic Games.

Boutin had won the bronze medal in this distance at the PyeongChang Olympics. She had then been the target of many threats since this third position had been acquired following the disqualification of the local athlete, the South Korean Minjeong Choi, who had come into contact with the Quebecer.

In the final, Boutin moved up to third place behind Italian Arianna Fontana and Dutch Suzanne Schulting. The Canadian held her rank until the end of the race to finish with a time of 42.73 seconds, 24 hundredths from Fontana who was crowned over the distance. Schulting won the silver medal and for Boutin it is a fourth Olympic medal after the three obtained in South Korea in 2018.

The 27-year-old skater qualified for the final by finishing just ahead of Russian Olympic Committee athlete Elena Seregina. Alyson Charles, for her part, finished fourth in her semi-final wave to find herself in the B final. She finished third in this final to end her working day.

The three Canadians qualified for the quarter-finals were all in the same wave to kick off this day of short track competition.

Boutin dominated the race from start to finish, quickly grabbing the lead and racing to the finish. The situation got complicated behind her.

During the last corner, Florence Brunelle tried to overtake the Chinese Kexin Fan in order to climb into third position, but she came into slight contact with the latter who was deported.

Brunelle also moved a block on the ice which slipped under the skate of Alyson Charles who was in second position at the time. She fell which opened the door for Brunelle to finish behind Boutin.

After review, the officials issued a penalty to Brunelle depriving her of access to the semi-finals. Despite falling, Charles was given a ticket to the next round in light of events.

“I know what I’m worth, I’m going to make mistakes and learn. That’s life. It’s boring, but for real, I’m still proud of myself, “said a very emotional Brunelle at the microphone of Radio Canada after the race.

In the first wave of the men’s 1000m quarter-finals, Canadian Jordan Pierre-Gilles tried to pass China’s Wu Dajing to take first place. There was contact between the two skaters and the Chinese was pushed off his racing line.

Even though he crossed the finish line in second position, Pierre-Gilles was punished for his gesture and his competition ended like this. The other Canadian in the running, Pascal Dion crashed in a corner as he found himself in third position and would certainly try to pick up speed to improve his situation. This means that no Canadian representative reached the semi-finals in the 1000m.