Steven Dubois's golden gamble biggest payoff for Canada on historic night at short track

Chris Jones reports from Milan.

Steven Dubois crossed the finish line with his mouth and his arms competing over which could open wider.

He had just won gold in the men’s 500-metre short track final, beating fellow Canadian William Dandjinou and three Dutch skaters, including brothers Melle and Jens van ’t Wout, who took silver and bronze.

The women’s 3,000-metre relay team, who had won bronze earlier in a thrilling evening at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, waited for Dubois in a corner of the rink. He fell into their collective arms before a Canadian flag was draped across his narrow shoulders.

He skated one more lap, this time as Olympic champion.

“It means so much, honestly,” the 28-year-old said after his race, which took 40.835 seconds and forever. “There are so many emotions that come into this. It’s relief, and satisfaction, and pride.”

Because of the extraordinarily strange setup in the final — an individual event that essentially pitted two teams against each other, with a pair of brothers within one of them — Dubois risked a tactic he’d never attempted in competition.

Normally, the diminutive Dubois likes to skate from the back, drafting larger skaters and overtaking late. But in Wednesday’s race, he took the lead immediately, slipping past Jens van ’t Wout, who had already won gold in the 1,000- and 1,500-metre finals.

In short track, space between skaters allows pursuers to accelerate. Dubois kept his lead but skated relatively slowly, purposefully keeping the gap small, preventing the Dutch from gaining speed. It also kept the race cluttered, which led to the third Dutch skater, Teun Boer, crashing out after Dandjinou made an aggressive passing move. 

“I make one mistake, and I’m going to fall back in fifth position,” Dubois said. “I gambled on myself, and it paid off.”

It was a bittersweet night for Dandjinou, who finished just off the podium in his third consecutive individual race. He crossed the line in fourth but received a penalty for failure to give way and dropped to fifth.

Four days ago, he finished fifth in the 1,500-metre final, two days after he finished fourth in the 1,000-metre.

“I race to win,” the 24-year-old said. “The medal that I’m aiming for is always gold. I know that taking a risk is how you get gold. Individually, it’s not for me today. There’s still a part of me that feels like today I won gold with Steven. I feel like there’s a part of me in that medal.”

But Dubois took the podium alone. He tapped it with both hands before he climbed on top of it, as though to make sure the moment was real, and kissed his medal the instant it was draped around his neck.