Samuel Girard (born June 26, 1996) is a Canadian retired short-track speed skater. Girard is the reigning Olympic champion and first Canadian to win the Olympic gold in the 1,000 m. He won four medals, three silver and two bronze at the

World Short Track Speed Skating Championships The World Short Track Speed Skating Championships are a senior international short track speed skating competition held once a year to determine the World Champion in individual distances, relays and Overall Classification. It is sanctioned by th ...

and multiple World Cup medals.

Career

Girard competed at the 2016 World Championships where he won a silver in the 1,000 m behind countryman

Charles Hamelin Charles Hamelin (born April 14, 1984) is a Canadian retired short track speed skater. In a competitive career that spanned nearly twenty years on the international circuit, Hamelin participated in five Winter Olympic Games ( 2006, 2010, 2014, 2 ...

, and a silver in the 5,000 m relay. These results led to his being named a rising star in short track competitions among Canadian media. In response to being referred to as the next Hamelin, Girard said that “I’m not the second Charles Hamelin. I will be Samuel Girard, and this will be my career. I want to follow what Charles did, and it’s really inspiring to skate with him." The following season, Girard had an even better world championships in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

at the 2017 World Championships. There he won a silver medal in the 1,500 m event, and with his total results finished in third overall at the competition.

2018 Winter Olympics

Girard was named to Canada's team at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

. In the 1,000 m competition, he was in the semi-final together with teammate Hamelin. Girard initially failed to qualify for the final but a review of a tight passing scenario in the semi-final determined that Hamelin had interfered with Girard and Girard was advanced to the final. Skating the final, Girard led almost from start to finish, with his tactics to stay out of trouble in the pack. His strategy was proven wise when Hungarian skater

Sándor Liu Shaolin Sándor is a Hungarian given name and surname. It is the Hungarian form of Alexander. It may refer to: People Given name * Sándor Apponyi (1844–1925) was a Hungarian diplomat, bibliophile, bibliographer and great book collector *Sándor Bol ...

took out both Korean skaters behind Girard in an aggressive pass. This cleared the way for Girard to win the gold in 1,000 m, the first Canadian short track speed skater to win in the distance.

Retirement

While competing at the 2019 World Championships Girard won another silver medal, his fourth individual world medal and sixth including two relay medals. During the summer of 2019, Girard and his girlfriend

Kasandra Bradette Kasandra Bradette (born October 10, 1989) is a Canadian short track speed skater. She has won world championship and World Cup medals. Career 2018 Winter Olympics In August 2017, Bradette was named to Canada's 2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 ...

, suddenly announced their retirement. Girard was expected to be the heir to

but actually retired before the elder. His retirement left the Canadian men's short track team without a true star aside from Hamelin, leaving

Kim Boutin Kim Boutin (; born December 16, 1994) is a Canadian short track speed skater. Boutin won silver in the 1,000 m and bronze in the 500 m and 1,500 m events at the 2018 Winter Olympics at Pyeonchang, Korea. She was the first Canadian ...

as the sole leader of the Canadian team.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girard, Samuel 1996 births Living people Canadian male short track speed skaters Olympic short track speed skaters for Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in short track speed skating Short track speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists French Quebecers