Canada calm among chaos
Women’s relay team can’t hold off South Koreans but still coast to final
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA— It was Satchel Paige who famously said: Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you.
The Canadian women’s short-track relay squad looked back in the 3,000metre heats Saturday and saw the South Koreans gaining on them. They saw the South Koreans overtake them, in fact, which was stunning because the home side had wiped out on the second lap.
They recovered to set an Olympic record of 4:06.387, which merely held until the second heat of the event, with China blistering across the finish line in 4:05.315. Canada will join both in the final next week after finishing second to South Korea in the first heat, ahead of Hungary and Russia.
Canada’s Marianne St-Gelais was visibly cruising on the bell lap. Deliberately so.
“I was gliding. I was dead, honestly,” the two-time Olympic silver medallist said. “The race was really fast and I was feeling it at the end. But I was keeping my focus on two laps two go.” Thinking: “We’re in the final, so don’t lose it. Don’t make a mistake.”
Prudent. It was gonzo madness out there. But madness with a method.
“That was the strategy,” St-Gelais, said of handling whatever the powerhouse Koreans threw at them. “When a strong team like that falls, always speed up. The goal was not to let them catch up. The plan was to go fast in front, to be in control, be sharp, be smooth.” Teammate Jamie Macdonald was well aware of the Koreans hot on their heels.
“We saw they had a little mix-up. There was a lot of stuff going on behind us,” she said.
“But we stayed out of trouble. We’ve been practising different strategies — if something happens, how to come back from it. We’ve become a very adaptable team. When things go wrong, we’re able to stay calm and take the next step.”
The end result — a time of 4:07.627 and a spot in the final — compensated for Macdonald spilling out of her 500-metre heat earlier, her blades clicking on a pass attempt, throwing her off balance and sending her sliding into the boards. She just avoided getting run over by another skater too, ducking her head and twisting out of the woman’s path.
“It was hard at first but this is the reality of short track,” Macdonald said.
“You have a bad race, you have maybe an hour to prepare for the relay. I knew after my race that I had to be there for my team. The relay is important to all of us. I was happy that I was able to come back and help us get there.
“It happens. Pretty sad that it happened here.”
Chimed in Kasandra Bradette: “There was chaos behind us but we maintained good speed and we went super-quick. Hard on the legs. We were hearing the Koreans coming up. At first I didn’t think they would come back but they had pretty good coverage. We could see them coming pretty fast.”
The Canadians slipped into second place on their last exchange and took no risks to secure their qualifying spot.
“You want to play it safe when you know that you’re going to make (the final),” Bradette said.