Canada’s Charles Hamelin falls in men’s 1,000, now his medal hopes are halved

Short track speed skating is no longer a new Olympic sport — it's been on the program for the seventh time — and suddenly, Canada is no longer winning.

Whether there is a larger narrative, it's too early to tell, but the short tracker's medal count remains stuck on one after Charles Hamelin, who was on the cover Sportsnet magazine recently, crashed in the quarter-final of the men's 1,000 metres on Saturday. During a turn, the three-time Olympic gold medalist got his shoulders twisted. That caused Hamelin, 29, to lose his balance and sprawl out across the course, taking American contender Eduardo Alvarez out in the process.

"My right leg hit a crack in the ice, or I got off-balance," Hamelin told CBC. "I have to come back and be strong for the 500 ... that's what I will do. I will be ready to focus on the 500 metres.

It marked two events in a row that a Hamelin has fallen and taken Canada out of medal contention. On Thursday, François Hamelin fell in the men's 5,000 relay semifinal and Canada failed to reach the final in an event where it has typically expected an Olympic medal.

The ice has been an issue for several skaters, but Charles Hamelin refused to take that out. The racer was touted as a possibility to hit for the cycle in Sochi, but so far has a 1,500 gold from his first three events in the wildly unpredictable discipline.

Charles Hamelin was not bumped; he fell completely under his own power. The 1,000 is not his signature distance, but he won it three times during World Cup competition this fall, so it's fair to say that falling short of the semis is nothing short of stunning.

The other Canadian representatives, 22-year-old Charle Cournoyer of Longueuil, Que., and 29-year-old Olivier Jean, 29, of Lachenaie, Que., were also ousted in the quarters.

Marie-Eve Drolet and Valerie Maltais also fell short of making the women's 1,500 final. That means Canada has accrued just one medal from the first five events in short track, with three events still on the docket. Whether that's part of a larger narrative of Canada being overtaken in a maturing sport or can be put down to the vagaries of short track remains to be seen.

Remember, Canada was counting on 4-5 medals in this discipline.

Canada will start from the second spot in the women's 3,000 relay on Tuesday. Qualifying for the men's 500, Hamelin's last shot at matching his double gold from Vancouver 2010, also begins that day.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.