St-Gelais captures third 500m medal in third World Cup stop
Marianne St-Gelais has won her third medal in the 500m in three World Cup stages this season, taking the bronze on Saturday in Shanghai.
In the first of two 500m races this weekend, St-Gelais was placed in the fourth spot on the starting line. After putting herself into second place for most of the race, St-Gelais was overtaken by South Korea’s Min Jeong Choi at the finish line. The gold went to Great Britain’s Elise Christie.
“I started from the fourth spot in the final and I knew I was in for a lot of action. So I was ready for anything,” St-Gelais said in a Speed Skating Canada release. The race included a false start and a restart after an early fall by a skater.
“At the same time, I wanted to risk doing certain things that I don’t normally do. There was a lot of contact at the start of the race. I managed to get into second place and I ended up overtaking a skater way too early and it cost me my position. I’m a little disappointed about finishing third, but I did certain things differently, so it bodes well for upcoming races.”
St-Gelais previously won gold in the 500m in Salt Lake City to go with a silver in Calgary. She also has a silver medal in the 1500m this season from Salt Lake City.
Sunday will feature the second 500m as well as the 1000m before the competition closes with the relays.
