Canadian Steven Dubois captured Olympic silver in a men’s 1,500-metre short-track speed skating race that came down to a matter of millimetres on Wednesday.
Dubois, of Terrebonne, Que., advanced to the final after official review following an error in the semis. He took home the medal in a photo-finish over bronze medallist Semen Elistratov of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The Republic of Korea’s Daeheon Hwang won gold with a time of 2:09.23 – just 0.035 seconds ahead of Dubois.
“I had a lot of doubts coming into the final,” Dubois said after the race about his nine competitors.
“Having so many good skaters, it brought the best in me and that’s why I got to skate as good as I could and I got the silver medal, so I like to thank all my competitors that helped me achieve what I did.”
The 24-year-old Olympic rookie was the lone Canadian in the final after teammates Charles Hamelin and Pascal Dion failed to qualify.
Dubois’ win is Canada’s eighth medal of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. He will compete again alongside Hamelin and Dion in the men’s 5,000-metre relay, which begins on Friday with the semifinals.
Hamelin, a five-time Olympian, was penalized during his skate at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, and did not advance to the final.
The event was Hamelin’s last Olympic race of his career in an individual distance event, the Canadian Olympic Committee said Tuesday.
Hamelin, a 37-year-old from Sainte-Julie, Que., has won five Olympic medals, including three gold, tying him for Canada’s most decorated male winter Olympian. Hamelin won gold in the 1,500-metre event in 2014 in Sochi.
A medal win in Beijing would place him alongside Cindy Klassen as the most decorated winter Olympian for Canada.