MOSCOW - The Canadian short-track speedskating team capped an impressive weekend with a four-medal performance at a World Cup on Sunday.
Olivier Jean of Lachenaie, Que., won gold in the men's 500 metres to lead a Canadian sweep of the podium. Jean finished in 41.080 seconds, just ahead of Liam McFarlane of Medicine Hat, Alta., (41.237) and Charles Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que (41.251).
"This is our second podium sweep of the World Cup season. It goes to show the depth of the Canadian team," Jean said in a release.
McFarlane's silver was his first career World Cup medal. It was Canada's first World Cup medal sweep since Hamelin, Yellowknife's Michael Gilday and Jean won all three medals in a 1,000-metre race in Saguenay, Que., last October.
Canada added another gold in the men's relay final Sunday. Hamelin and Jean teamed with Guillaume Bastille of Riviere-du-Loup, Que., and Remi Beaulieu of Alma, Que., to finish first in six minutes 46.739 seconds.
"It was a good race from the start," Bastille said. "We followed the game plan of trying to stay in the lead. We controlled the race pretty well. There were a lot of falls, but we stayed out of trouble by staying out front."
South Korea was second in 6:50.704 and China was third in 6:50.848.
Canada won five medals on the weekend. Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., won bronze Saturday in the women's 1,500 metres.
On Sunday, Marianne St. Gelais of St-Felicien, Que., settled for fourth in the women's 500 metres with a time of 45.240 seconds. Kexin Fan of China won gold in 45.013.
Italy's Arianna Fontana won silver in 45.088 and Qiuhong Liu of China took bronze in 45.158.
In a crowded 1,500-metre six-skater final, Marie-Eve Drolet of Laterriere, Que., was fifth in 2:28.135. Eun-Buyl Lee of South Korea won gold in 2:27.775.
Cho Ha-ri of South Korea took silver in 2:24.826 and American Lana Gehring won bronze in 2:25.980.
The Canadian team of Maltais, Marie-Eve Drolet of Laterriere, Que., Jessica Hewitt of Kamloops, B.C., and Caroline Truchon of Chicoutimi, Que., finished second in the women's relay race. However, they had to settle for a fourth-place result due to a penalty.
China won gold in 4:13.374. The United States was second in 4:14.127 and the Netherlands was third in 4:24.114.