BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Canada's Courtney Sarault clinched her first ISU Crystal Globe on Sunday, completing a Canadian sweep of the season's individual overall titles at the final leg of the ISU Short Track World Tour in Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
The 25-year-old sealed the women's overall crown with silver in the 1,500m and then underlined it by winning the 500m on the closing day. Sarault began Sunday with a 100-point cushion over American Corinne Stoddard; a collision involving Stoddard, Belgium's Hanne Desmet and Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands cleared Sarault's path to second in the 1,500m behind South Korea's Kim Gil-li, with Choi Min-jeong taking bronze.
"I proved to myself that I can do it under pressure," Sarault said.
Sarault then toppled Velzeboer, winner of the previous three 500m World Tour races, to take gold, with Stoddard second and Canada's Florence Brunelle third. Stoddard finished the season ranked No. 2 overall.
"Courtney has been so strong and dominant this World Tour season, and she definitely deserves," Stoddard said. "Hopefully I will finally get my gold at the Olympics."
The hosts celebrated two relay wins, with Jens Van't Wout helping the Netherlands to mixed relay gold and brother Melle, returning from long-term injury, contributing to victory in the men's 5,000m relay.
China claimed two silvers in the men's events. In the 1,000m, Liu Shaoang led into the final lap before being overtaken by South Korea's Rim Jong-un to finish second. "It was a hard race, intense, and a good learning session before the Olympics," Liu said. "Overall I'm really happy. We've had ups and downs this season." China also took silver in the men's 5,000m relay in 6:48.724 behind the Netherlands, with Italy third.
The results secured China the full Olympic quota of five men and five women for all nine short track events at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games. Canada also won the season titles in the mixed relay and overall combined team competition. ■
