Canadian speed skaters win 4 bronze medals in short-track World Cup

Canadian speed skaters didn’t let up in Erzurum, Turkey, on Sunday, earning four medals on the final day of a World Cup event after picking up three a day earlier.

Seven podium finishes for the weekend represents the team’s highest total since claiming eight in Shanghai, China in mid-December.

The Canadian squad finishes the 2014-15 World Cup season with 28 medals (three gold, nine silver, 16 bronze) to surpass the 27 it claimed in the 2012013 campaign.

Charles Hamelin, Patrick Duffy, Kim Boutin and the Canadian women’s relay team each won bronze on Sunday.

For Hamelin, he now has eight medals on the season, including six in individual events. Sunday’s achievement came in the men’s 500-metre race in a time of 44.179 seconds.

The skater from Sainte-Julie, Que., took advantage of penalty handed Semen Elistratov of Russia.

“That may be the weirdest five hundred metres I’ve ever skated in,” Hamelin said in a statement released by Speed Skating Canada. “I clearly had a false start, but when I realized they weren’t going to re-start the race, I had to quickly get back up and I found myself five or six metres behind.

“I took advantage of a battle up front to come back, and then the Russian pushed me by putting his hands on my hip and shoulder, and I had to hang on to the boards to avoid falling.”

Hamelin finished sixth in the men’s 1,000 on Saturday.

Boutin followed up Saturday’s bronze medal in the women’s 1,500 with a bronze in the 1,000, the first two individual medals of her career. The 20-year-old World Cup rookie clocked one minute 33.934 seconds in Sunday’s event, finishing behind Italy’s Arianna Fontana (1:33.415) and Japan’s Yui Sakai (1:33.821).

“This will give me a boost of confidence for the world championships [March 13-15 in Moscow]. I would have preferred winning gold or silver [Sunday] because I know I can do better in the 1,000 but I’m still happy,” said Boutin of Sherbrooke, Que.

Teammate Geneve Belanger of Montreal was fifth in the 1,000.

Duffy posted a time of 1:25.511 for his first individual World Cup medal. Sin Da Wood of South Korea won the event in 1:25.311. Duffy, a 23-year-old native of Oakville, Ont., was fourth in Saturday’s 1,500.

The Canadian relay team of Marianne St-Gelais, Kasandra Bradette, Belanger and Boutin stopped the clock in the 3,000m race in 4:14.240. China won in 4:13.026, followed by South Korea (4:13.406).

It was the fourth time this season the Canadian relay team reached the podium, finishing the season with a gold and three bronze.

St-Gelais, fresh off Saturday’s silver medal showing in the 1,500, placed fourth in the 500 A final on Sunday.