Charles Hamelin strikes short track gold, ties Canadian medal record in final Olympic race

Competing in his fifth and final Games, Hamelin helped the men’s relay team secure gold on Wednesday in Beijing, the 37-year-old’s sixth career Olympic podium to match long track speed skater Cindy Klassen and his fourth in the 5,000-metre event.

Hamelin, Steven Dubois, Jordan Pierre-Gilles, and Pascal Dion crossed the finish line in six minutes 41.257 seconds after taking bronze in the men’s relay four years ago in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., also moved into a tie with women’s hockey players Hayley Wickenheiser, Caroline Ouellette and Jayna Hefford for the most gold by a Canadian at either the Summer or Winter Games.

South Korea captured silver (6:41.679) and Italy bronze (6:43.431) at Capital Indoor Stadium.

Hamelin is expected to retire following the March 18-20 short track world championships in Montreal.

I want to come back [home] from Beijing with a big smile on my face and happiness in my heart, Hamelin told Jacqueline Doorey of CBC Sports before the Olympics. With that feeling and that mindset, I’ll bring back some memories and some [medals].

After the world No. 1 Canadian squad won its semifinal last Friday, Dion told The Canadian Press the group was motivated to get Hamelin on the podium.

142 World Cup medals

It is special to be on the team with someone like him, Dion told Postmedia recently. “He’s a legendary skater. He’s been so good for so many years and the sport has changed so much, and he always adapted.

We all want to win so bad. It’s not for Charles that we do it, but it would be nice to be part of the team that made him the most decorated guy in Canada.

Hamelin, who helped the Canadian squad to Olympic silver in 2006, gold in 2010 and bronze in 2018, has also earned 142 World Cup medals and 37 at world championships, including 14 gold.

He placed 19th in the men’s 1,500 earlier at these Games after helping carry the Canadian flag into the opening ceremony in China with women’s hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin.

For Dubois, the relay gold was medal No. 3 from his Olympic debut after earning bronze in the men’s 500 on Sunday and men’s 1,500 silver a week ago. The 24-year-old from Terrebonne, Que., nearly reached the podium on Feb. 5 as a member of the mixed relay team that placed fourth after being penalized.

Dubois arrived in Beijing coming off his first individual medal of the season with silver in the 500 to wrap up the World Cup season in Dordrecht, Netherlands. He was fourth in the 1,500 at the 2019 world championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the following year picked up silver in a triple-medal effort at the Four Continents championships in Montreal.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Canada’s Kim Boutin and Courtney Sarault were eliminated in their respective women’s 1,500 semifinals.

Sarault, the world’s third-ranked skater in the distance, missed tying Dutchwoman Xandra Velzeboer by 0.013 seconds to advance as the fastest third-place finisher.

Boutin and Sarault went on to finish 3-4 in the B final in 2:45.568 and 2:45.606, respectively.