World short-track speedskating championships in Montreal rescheduled

MONTREAL – The world short-track speedskating championships at Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena have been rescheduled to April 8-10.

The event was originally scheduled for March 18-20, but the International Skating Union and Speed Skating Canada decided to reschedule it due to COVID-19 developments and the conflict in Ukraine.

The world championships will be the first international short-track event hosted in Canada since the Four Continents Championships in January 2020.

Canada won four short-track medals last month at the Beijing Olympics, including gold in the 5,000-metre relay. That result gave Charles Hamelin a sixth Olympic medal — including four gold — to tie Cindy Klassen as the most decorated Canadian Winter Olympian.

The 37-year-old Hamelin, from Ste-Julie, Que., will skate for a final time in Montreal before retiring after a distinguished 20-year international career.

Hamelin will be joined by fellow Beijing 2022 men’s relay medallist Steven Dubois, Pascal Dion, Maxime Laoun and Jordan Pierre-Gilles, as well as 500m bronze medallist and world record holder Kim Boutin.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2022.