MONTREAL — They were the stars of short-track speed skating at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and, six years later, Marianne St-Gelais and Charles Hamelin are still leading the way.
St-Gelais won medals in 11 of the 12 events she entered in six World Cup meets this season, plus another three with the women’s relay team, while Hamelin took 10 medals in a banner campaign for Canada’s short-track squad.
The team piled up 44 medals for its best showing since it won 47 in 2003.
"The big thing was team spirit," Hamelin said Wednesday. "Since the beginning of the summer, with the veterans and the young skaters, the chemistry was really good.
"When we support each other it makes us all better."
Charle Cournoyer, Valerie Maltais and Charles Hamelin’s brother Francois, with his first career World Cup gold medal in Japan, were among those who also chipped in strong showings.
But the leaders remain St-Gelais, who was celebrating her 26th birthday, and Charles Hamelin, who turns 32 on April 14 and shows no sign of fading with age.
"I motivate myself with the results I’ve had and what I need to be better," said Hamelin. "The young guys’ goal is to beat me and I just want to keep my spot at the top of the Canadian rankings."
That St-Gelais and Hamelin are a couple off the ice makes their performances more intriguing.
Canada may have won more medals had Hamelin, who had a gold medal in each of his five meets this season, not skipped the final World Cup in the Netherlands last week. He wanted to avoid the effects of too much travel in order to be in top shape for the world championships March 11-13 in Seoul.
His goal is a first career overall title.
"I had a chance a few years ago and missed it by not much," he said. "I’m going there with a better mindset as well.
"If I execute, there’s no reason why I won’t come back as world champion."
St. Gelais won a pair of silver medals at the 2010 Games, but was kept off the podium in individual events in Sochi, Russia four years later. Since then, she has been in top form.
Long a master of the go-for-broke 500-metre event, she claimed a gold medal in a 1,500-metre race last week. St-Gelais credited working with a sports psychologist to keep her focused on skating.
"I was paying to much attention to things around me," she said. "Like Charles is a world champion so I want him to be good and maybe I was not thinking about me.
"This year it’s working really good. I’m trying things on the ice, being more active. That’s a big step for me."
Her goal is to earn a world championship title in any event.
"I want a gold medal at the (2018) Olympics, but that’s two years away," she said. "I also have to do well at the world championship, so that’s my target."
Many remember the couple for the long kiss they exchanged at rinkside after Hamelin won gold in Vancouver. Their romance may also have helped keep them among the world’s elite in their sport.
"We have a rule that we try not to bring short-track home," said St-Gelais. "We skate together, we’re always together, but we know how the other feels about everything.
"When I have a bad race and he has a good race, he knows how proud I am and how angry I am. I need someone like that who I can share my emotions with. He’s perfect because I’m a very high person and he’s really calm. Every time I’m jumping and screaming too much he says, ‘It’s OK. Focus on your next race."’