THE CANADIAN PRESS
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Canada’s short-track speedskaters repeated their Olympic success at the world championships Saturday, with four Vancouver 2010 medallists finding their way right back to the podium.
Francois Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., won his first career individual world championship medal by finishing second in the men’s 500-metre race while Francois-Louis Tremblay of Alma, Que., was third.
"I’m really pleased with my result," said Hamelin, a member of Canada’s gold-medal winning 5,000-metre relay team at the Olympics. "It’s the first individual medal for me at the world championships so I’m really happy about it."
It was another 2-3 finish for the Canadians in the women’s race, with Kalyna Roberge of Saint-Etienne-de-Lauzon, Que., winning silver and Marianne St-Gelais of Roberval, Que., grabbing bronze.
Hamelin’s time of 41.456 seconds was just a hair ahead of Tremblay’s 41.526, and just behind China’s Liang Wenhao in 41.383 for gold.
"I started out in first and the Chinese guy passed me on the outside on the last corner," said Hamelin. "He hit me a little bit on the outside but it was an OK pass so at the line I finished second and Francois-Louis got third."
Tremblay also won 500 bronze in Vancouver.
Roberge posted a time of 43.679 seconds to finish behind defending champion Wang Meng of China, who won in 43.619 seconds.
"A second place today is excellent for me," said Roberge. "I knew everyone would have a fast start, so I wanted to make sure to have a good position off the start and to stay relaxed after, which I did really well."
Roberge and St-Gelais both helped Canada win silver in the women’s 3,000 relay at the Olympics, while St-Gelais also won silver in the 500.
"Each medal has a different significance," said St-Gelais. "This is my first medal at world championships and I’m really proud of what I did."