February 10, 2013 - 10:02 AM
DRESDEN, Germany - Canada's Marianne St. Gelais captured a silver medal and lowered her national record in the 500 metres at a short-track speedskating World Cup on Sunday.
The Canadian women also skated to silver in the relay.
St. Gelais, from St. Felicien, Que., lowered her record in the semifinals at Energie Verbund Arena, and then battled three Chinese skaters in the final. Meng Wang led from start to finish to take the gold medal in 42.913 seconds, St. Gelais secured second in 42.983, while Qiuhong Liu was the bronze medallist in 43.161.
St. Gelais skated a Canadian-record 42.664 in the semis, lowering her previous mark of 43.241 set at the Vancouver Olympics.
St. Gelais teamed up with Marie-Eve Drolet of Laterriere, Que., Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., and Jessica Hewitt of Kamloops, B.C., to win the silver. The Netherlands, fourth after 25 of 27 laps, won the gold, while China took the bronze. South Korean crossed first but was penalized for interference.
Drolet and Maltais were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 1,500-metre final.
Michael Gilday of Yellowknife was fourth in the men's 1,500.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013