Jordan Pierre-Gilles won gold and William Dandjinou claimed bronze as Canada enjoyed a two-medal day at the short track speedskating World Cup stop in Beijing on Saturday.

Pierre-Gilles, of Sherbrooke, Que., won the men鈥檚 500 metres in a time of 40.711 seconds, beating Quentin Fercoq of France (40.875) and Jens van 鈥榯 Wout of the Netherlands (41.280).

The Canadian trailed Liu Shaoang and Lin Xiaoju for most of the race but sailed to the front of the pack after the Chinese skaters collided.

鈥淚t was an exciting race today. A lot of people were surprised to see the Chinese skater challenging his teammate, but I kind of saw it coming and even told my coach about it before the race. My strategy was adapted a bit with this in mind. Obviously, their collision made my pass to the front easier and after that it was all but over,鈥� said Pierre-Gilles

Montreal鈥檚 Dandjinou finished third in the men鈥檚 1,500 with a time of two minutes 19.179 seconds.

Korea鈥檚 Kim Gun Woo won gold (2:18.934), ahead silver medallist Wenlong LI of China (2:19.009)

鈥淚 stumbled a bit during a pass and got cut off mid-stride. Despite all of that, I still managed to win the bronze. I鈥檓 proud of myself and I hope I can do even better tomorrow,鈥� said Dandjinou.

A pair of Canadian women also earned top-10 finishes on Saturday. Ren茅e Steenge, of Brampton, Ont., finished fifth in the 1,500, while Florence Brunelle, of Trois-Rivi猫res, Que., was ninth in the 500.

The short track World Cup continues Sunday in Beijing.

The Canadian Press

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