Feb. 19 (UPI) — Canada’s Steven Dubois exploded off the line Wednesday to grab the lead early in the men’s 500-meter final and never looked back, winning his first gold and his second medal of these Winter Olympic Games.
The 28-year-old Canadian, known for his strong starts, finished first with a time of 40.835 seconds.
“It’s completely crazy, amazing,” Dubois told CBC after the race. “It’s the mindset I had today. I really wanted to win gold.”
Dutch brothers Melle van’t Wout and Jens van’t Wout finished second and third, respectively. Melle van’t Wout had a time of 40.912 seconds and Jens van’t Wout had a time of 41.908 seconds.
Fellow Dutch skater Teun Boer finished fourth at 1:05.360 seconds.
Canadian William Dandjinou crossed the line fourth, but was assessed a penalty for failing to give way, resulting in Boer crashing.
With Dubois starting in the second position, he powered off the line to take first place before the first turn.
He then slowed to clutter the skaters. When Dandjinou made the aggressive inside move, resulting in Boer’s crash, the pack broke apart, giving Dubois the space to gain a large lead, which no one could erase.
“From the first block, I had to go super fast and then I knew I would get the silver medal — it was going to be an easier medal — or from the first block just try to keep them behind me and try to control the race and slow it down, so there was going to be a lot of chaos behind me,” Dubois said.
“It’s one of the strategies where it works, you can win; if it doesn’t work, I had a really good chance of finishing last. And I wanted the gold, so I decided to give it a try.
Dubois already won a silver medal in these Olympics, with Team Canada finishing second in the mixed team relay event. It is his fifth Olympic medal in the last two Winter Games.