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Powered by athletes from the short track hotbed of Quebec, Canada has consistently ranked among the very best countries in this chaotic sport, winning at least three medals and as many as six at every Winter Games since short track debuted in 1992 in Albertville, France.
In 2022 in Beijing, Canadian short trackers raced to four medals, trailing only perennial power South Korea, which had five. The highlight came when 37-year-old star Charles Hamelin helped his men’s relay team to gold in his final Olympic race. That gave Hamelin six career medals, tying him with long track skater Cindy Klassen for the most ever by a Canadian in the Winter Games.
Hamelin retired a couple of months later, leaving the Canadian team without one of its all-time greats. And yet, over the last two years, Canada has blossomed into the No. 1 short track country in the world.
The rise to the top began on the 2024-25 World Tour, where Canada racked up 37 medals, including 21 golds, across the six stops to run away with the team Crystal Globe trophy. Then, at the season-ending world championships in Beijing, Canadians won an incredible six of the nine events (including a clean sweep of the men’s golds) and grabbed four silvers for a total of 10 medals. No other country won multiple golds or finished with more than four medals overall.
This season, Canada solidified its dominance by sweeping the three World Tour Crystal Globes as Will Dandjinou repeated as men’s overall champion, Courtney Sarault captured her first women’s crown and Canada won its second straight team title. With the tour shortened to four stops to make room for the Olympics, Canadians piled up a world-leading 31 total medals and 15 golds, well ahead of second-place South Korea’s 21 and nine.
Dandjinou and Sarault headline the group of 10 Canadians (five men, five women) set to compete at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, where the Canadian single-Games record of six short track medals (set a quarter century ago in Salt Lake City) looks to be in jeopardy.
The 24-year-old Dandjinou is one to watch in particular. Left off the Olympic team in 2022, he’s now a gold-medal favourite in multiple events and has a shot to win a medal in all five that are open to men (the individual 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m and the men’s and mixed relays). At last year’s world championships he captured three golds (in the 1,500m and both relays) while adding a silver in the 1,000m — a distance he won gold in at the 2024 worlds. On the World Tour this season, Dandjinou won an outstanding seven golds and one silver in his 12 individual competitions, including three wins in his four starts in both the 500m and the 1,500m.
Sarault, 25, is appearing in her second Olympics and looks poised to reach her first podium(s). Her 11 career world championship medals include a gold in the women’s relay and silvers in the individual 1,000m and 1,500m last year. This season on the World Tour, Sarault won five golds, three silvers and one bronze in her solo races.
Another Canadian star to watch is 28-year-old Steven Dubois, who won four golds at the 2025 world championships — in the solo 500m and 1,000m events and the men’s and mixed relays. He also led the way at the 2022 Olympics by collecting a medal of each colour, including a gold with Hamelin in the men’s relay. Dubois placed third in the World Tour men’s overall points chase this season with five individual medals (one silver, four bronze).
Short track competition begins Tuesday in Milan with the women’s 500m qualifying heats at 4:30 a.m. ET and the men’s 1,000m heats at 5:10 a.m. ET. The medal rounds for those events are on Thursday.
The first medals are up for grabs Tuesday in the mixed relay, which sees teams of four skaters (two men, two women) race over 2,000 metres. There’s no clear favourite, but Canada is in the mix for gold with the likes of the Netherlands and South Korea after finishing third in the World Tour standings this season.
The mixed relay begins with the quarterfinals at 5:59 a.m. ET. The top two in each four-team heat plus the next two fastest overall advance to the semifinals at 6:34 a.m. ET. The medal race is at 7:10 a.m. ET.
Other stuff to watch on Tuesday
The short track mixed relay is Canada’s only strong chance for a medal on Day 4. But here are some other interesting things to keep an eye on, in chronological order:
Freestyle skiing: Mikaël Kingsbury in moguls qualifying at 5:15 a.m. ET
The moguls GOAT (and Canadian flag-bearer) begins his quest for a fourth consecutive Olympic medal in the first round of men’s qualifying. This should be little more than a warmup for Kingsbury, as the top 10 advance to Thursday’s final while everyone else gets another chance in the second qualifier earlier that day. But Kingsbury has been bothered by a groin injury all season, so it’ll be interesting to see how healthy he looks.
Mikael Kingsbury in training Monday in Livigno. (Getty Images)
The other Canadian to watch in men’s qualifying is Julien Viel, who earned a bronze in December before winning his first World Cup gold last month in a dual moguls competition in Quebec.
Women’s qualifying goes at 8:15 a.m. ET. Canada’s Maïa Schwinghammer took bronze at the world championships and won three medals on the World Cup tour last season in the standard moguls but has not reached the podium this season.
Mixed doubles curling: Sweden vs. United States for gold at 12:05 p.m. ET
Sweden stunned top-seeded Great Britain 7-3 in the semifinals today, denying men’s world-champion skip Bruce Mouat a chance to win two golds. Swedish siblings Isabella and Rasmus Wrana will play for the title against Americans Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, who scored two with the last rock of their semifinal to knock off reigning Olympic and world champions Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner of Italy 9-8. The Italians will play for the bronze against Great Britain at 8:05 a.m. ET.
Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, eliminated from playoff contention yesterday after losing their fifth consecutive game, beat Switzerland in a meaningless round-robin finale this morning to finish with a 4-5 record.
Figure skating: Men’s short program at 12:30 p.m. ET
All eyes will be on American superstar Ilia Malinin after he did just enough on Sunday to lift the U.S. to gold in the team event. Expect more fireworks from the Quad God in his solo event – he’s teased the possibility of an unprecedented quintuple jump, though he would presumably save that for the closing free skate on Friday.
Canada’s Stephen Gogolev is set for his Olympic solo-event debut after a commendable performance in the team competition. The 21-year-old placed third in his short skate to give Canada a spot in the final round, where he was fourth out of five skaters.
Women’s hockey: Canada vs. the United States at 2:10 p.m. ET
Poulin’s status will be top of mind as the tournament’s two superpowers square off in the last group-stage game for the Americans (3-0) and the second-last for Canada (2-0). The top seed for the elimination rounds is at stake. But, since Canada and the U.S. are extremely likely to meet in the gold-medal game anyway, the Canadians will likely be cautious with their captain.
Elsewhere in women’s hockey, host Italy defeated Japan today to improve to 2-1 and clinch its first-ever spot in the Olympic knockout stage. The Italians can thank the many Canadians on their team, writes Chris Jones.
