Steven Dubois collects short track silver for Canada at World Cup opener in Montreal

Steven Dubois, who won a speed skating silver medal for Canada in the 1,500 metres at the Beijing Olympics in February, delivered the same result at the season-opening short track World Cup on Saturday in Montreal.

Dubois, who led midway through the A final, reached the finish line at Maurice Richard Arena in two minutes 14.312 seconds behind South Korea's Park Ji Won and 1-1000th of a second ahead of his teammate, Hong Kyung Hwan, in a photo finish.

Montreal's Pascal Dion fell and placed last among the six finishers in 2:54.242.

Two weeks ago, Dubois of Terrebonne, Que., won the men's national title for a third consecutive year at the Canadian championships in Quebec City.

"He has great potential," Dubois' former relay teammate, the retired Charles Hamelin, told Montreal's La Presse newspaper. "He has exceptional athletic and skating qualities that I myself have never had in my life. If you combine these qualities with a certain confidence, forget it, the rest of the world will not find it funny!

"When confidence kicks in and he goes for it fearlessly, he's going to be tough to beat."

WATCH | Dubois wins 1,500-metre silver medal in photo finish:

Dubois, a triple medallist at the Beijing Winter Games, captured silver in a penalty-filled competition in China along with relay gold in the 5,000 and bronze in the 500.

The 28-year-old Dubois started skating at the age of 11 or 12, choosing speed skating over hockey because his parents didn't like the atmosphere in hockey rinks.

A substitute with the 2018 Olympic team in Pyeongchang, South Korea, he was fourth in the 1,500 at the 2019 world championships and the following year picked up silver in a triple-medal effort at the Four Continents championships in Montreal.

Canada wins mixed relay bronze

Elsewhere on Saturday, Canada won bronze in the mixed 2,000-metre relay, finishing just behind the Belgian team with a time of 2:41:066. South Korea claimed gold.

Canada was represented by Fredericton's Rikki Doak, Courtney Sarault of Moncton, N.B., Mathieu Pelletier of Laval, Que., and Félix Roussel of Sherbrooke, Que.

WATCH | Canada skates to bronze in mixed relay:

Sherbrooke's Jordan Pierre-Gilles was fourth in the men's 1,000 (1:24.532). Roberts Kruzbergs of Latvia won in 1:23.959.

Claudia Gagnon placed seventh (2:32.519) of seven finishers in the women's 1,500, won by Suzanne Schulting (2:31.052) of the Netherlands.

In the women's 1,000, three-time defending Canadian champion Kim Boutin finished fourth in her heat and advanced to the B final. The A final featured Doak, who fell and didn't register a time.

Live streaming of the event on CBCSports.ca continues on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET.

The next stop on the World Cup short track circuit is Salt Lake City on Nov. 4, followed by Almaty, Kazakhstan (Dec. 9-11, Dec. 16-18).

For more short track coverage, watch CBC Sports Presents, our weekly program that spotlights the best high-performance athletes from Canada and around the world. Stream the show on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET