Olympic champion Steven Dubois is back home in Quebec wearing a wide smile after delivering the race he had envisioned for years.
The Canadian short-track speed skater captured gold in the men’s 500 metres at the Milano–Cortina Winter Olympics, the only individual Olympic medal missing from his résumé.
Starting second on the line, Dubois surged ahead almost immediately, slipping past Dutch skater Jens van ’t Wout — already a gold medallist in the 1,000 and 1,500 metres — and then controlled the race from the front.
“I knew I had a better start than the first skater, so I could take him in the first 15 metres,” Dubois said. “And this skater, the Dutch guy, is really, really good at doing high-speed passing. So I knew if I started super fast and reached some kind of gap and then came back with another speed, he could pass me.
He carefully weighed his options before making his next move.
“For that race, it would have been good to come second, and it would have been a pretty well-determined result. But that’s not really what I had in mind,” Dubois said.
“So I decided to start fast in front of him and then slow down in front of him so he would be kind of stuck behind me and could not create gaps. And then I hoped that it would create some kind of chaos behind me — and it did happen.”
With a Canadian flag draped across his shoulders, Dubois’ triumph marked a major career milestone — his first individual Olympic gold medal.
The 28-year-old’s win also gave Canada its first short-track gold of the Milano–Cortina Games and helped the team extend its medal streak in the sport.
The victory came after a rocky start to Dubois’ individual Olympic campaign. He was eliminated in the opening round of the men’s 1,000 metres after a crash and finished sixth in the 1,500 metres.
“I fell in the first race of the thousand metres,” Dubois said. “I was so excited to race the thousand. I was so in shape, and I was coming back from a win at world championships last year. So I was pumped to finally do that distance.”
After that setback, Dubois focused on enjoying the Games and spending time with family, which helped him approach the 500-metre race with a fresh mindset.
“I enjoyed my Games so much,” he said. “I didn’t put too much pressure on myself coming in — except maybe the day of the 500 metres. I told everyone I wanted to win, and it was really stressful.
“But the mindset I had coming in was that I wanted to enjoy it and spend the time, and just look at everything around me, spend time with people and enjoy the Games.”
Dubois also helped Canada win a silver medal in the mixed relay earlier in the competition.
Away from the ice, Dubois plans to start biology classes at Université de Montréal, with hopes of eventually entering optometry school.
His competitive future remains open.
“It’s still something I’m discussing with my coach,” he said. “But I’ll be on the ice next year for sure.”
