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Canadian men's short track relay team wins gold in Japan

Canada's Pascal Dion, shown in this file photo, helped the Canadian men's short track relay team win gold in Nagoya, Japan on Sunday, as well as an individual bronze in the men's 1,000-metre final. (File/The Canadian Press - image credit)
Canada's Pascal Dion, shown in this file photo, helped the Canadian men's short track relay team win gold in Nagoya, Japan on Sunday, as well as an individual bronze in the men's 1,000-metre final. (File/The Canadian Press - image credit)

The Canadian men's short track relay team will bring home gold after winning the 5,000-metre final at the World Cup event in Nagoya, Japan, on Sunday.

Pascal Dion, Charles Hamelin, Steven Dubois, and Jordan Pierre-Gilles raced to a time of six minutes, 52.272 seconds, just ahead of the Chinese (6:52.285) and Hungarian (6:52.386) teams, who took silver and bronze, respectively.

"Honestly, we could not have hoped for a better race," Pierre-Gilles said in a media release. "Winning the gold medal is an incredible feeling and is a great end to our trip in Asia. We are all excited for what comes next, but we'll start by celebrating a bit and appreciating this win."

Dion also added a bronze in the men's 1,000-metre final, his second medal in the distance in as many races, this World Cup season.

WATCH | Canadian men capture 5,000-metre relay gold:

The Montreal native finished the race in 1:26.554, behind the Netherlands' Itzhak de Laat, who claimed silver in 1:26.533. China's Ren Ziwei took gold in 1:26.297.

"I think that if everything is aligned I am capable of producing good races and I proved that over the past two weekends," Dion said in a media release. "At the international level, I have never been very confident in individual races, but now I've seen what I am capable of. I worked on my weak points over the past two years and that is showing."

WATCH | Dion adds a bronze medal in the 1,000:

Canadian women's skaters were held off the podium in Nagoya this weekend. Courtney Sarault and Kim Boutin finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 1,000 final on Sunday.

"It was a difficult weekend for me, but I think it was a big upgrade compared to last week in Beijing," Boutin said. "I made two 'A' finals, which proves that I am capable of skating among the top five in the world.

"I am slowly getting better and better and finding my form again."