Dutton’s legal bid to land Olympic spot fails

William Dutton’s last-ditch bid to make the Canadian Olympic speedskating team fell short.

Dutton’s father Craig posted Friday that his son — a 2014 Olympian from Humboldt — will not make the 2018 team despite some late legal wrangling.

Speed Skating Canada posted its final short-track roster on their website Friday, and Dutton is not there. He placed second at the Olympic trials in the 500m on Jan. 5, but because he didn’t record a time that equals or betters the 16th-best time on the Special Olympic Qualification Classification, he was not named to the team.

The complicating factor is two of those 16 times were posted by Russians who tested positive for doping and will not be allowed to compete at the Olympics. If those times were excluded, Dutton would have hit the SOQC target. He appealed, and an arbitrator at the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada ordered Speed Skating Canada to review the team’s makeup, and render a decision that includes those extenuating circumstances.

“Despite the specific order of the Arbitrator that SCC consider SSC’s Fair Play Policy, William has not been named to the Olympic Team,” Craig Dutton wrote on his Facebook page. “William is training with his Sprint Team teammates pulling laps as they make their final push preparing to race in Korea. Go Canada!”

Dutton’s 2014 Olympic debut included a 14th-place finish in the 500m and 26th in the 1,000.

He said before the final decision that he was prepared for it to go either way.

“There’s two possible outcomes: I get named to the Olympic team and participate in my second Olympics, or I fly to Ireland to visit my girlfriend and cheer for my fellow athletes while enjoying a Guinness,” Dutton said in a statement. “There’s really no losing with those options.”