William Dandjinou

William Dandjinou
Personal information
Born (2001-10-01) October 1, 2001
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Height191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Sport
CountryCanada
SportShort track speed skating
Medal record
Men's short track speed skating
Representing  Canada
Olympic Games
2026 Milano Cortina Mixed 2000 m relay
World Championships
2024 Rotterdam 1000 m
2025 Beijing 1500 m
2025 Beijing 5000 m relay
2025 Beijing Mixed 2000 m relay
2026 Montreal 5000 m relay
2025 Beijing 1000 m
2026 Montreal 2000 m mixed relay
Four Continents Championships
2024 Laval 1000 m
2024 Laval 5000 m relay
2023 Salt Lake City 1000 m

William Dandjinou (born October 1, 2001) is a Canadian short-track speed skater.[1] At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Dandjinou won a silver medal in the gold in the mixed team relay. Dandjinou is a five-time World Champion. Dandjinou is noted for being "unusually tall for a short-tracker" measuring 6-foot-3 without skates, considerably above the 5-foot-9 height he considers ideal for the sport.[2]

Career

Dandjinou was left off the Canadian team at the 2022 Winter Olympics and was listed as a reserve, although he did not compete. He would later cite this as a career low point, but a moment which allowed him to gain perspective on what he wanted from his career.[3] Dandjinou later said of the experience that "I'm not here for the medals, although winning is nice. I'm here for the experience in the long run.”[2]

He began the 2023-2024 season with a victory at the Canadian Championships.[4] As part of the 2023–24 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup, Dandjinou won multiple medals across various legs of the competition.[5][6][7] At the 2024 Four Continents Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Laval, Quebec, Dandjinou won the gold medal in the 1000 metres event and was part of the bronze medal winning 5000 metres relay team.[8]

Dandjinou would cap the season with a dramatic gold medal on last day of the 2024 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after earlier missing out on medals in the 500 m, 1,500 m and relay event.[9] With two South Korean skaters in the lead with three laps to go, the two Koreans bumped into each other which opened the door for Dandjinou to get into the lead where he stuck his skate out to beat Pietro Sighel of Italy by 0.021 seconds. After the race he said that "Honestly, I didn't expect to have this result today. After the day I had yesterday — probably the worst day I could have imagined with bad results in the 500, 1,500 and relay — I'm just happy to be back. It's not the first time I have had a bad day. It's my first world championships so I had to adjust to the calibre of the races. I wanted to make sure I was locked in for this last day and do my best. No matter what the results were today, I wanted to be happy with myself, so it's just a blessing that I finished as world champion.[9]

In the 2024–25 ISU Short Track World Tour (the replacement for the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup season) Dandjinou became the first Canadian to win the Crystal Globe as the season’s overall top skater, competing in all six World Cup stops, winning eight gold medals and two silver; he took gold in the 500, 1000, and 1500-metre events, the only skater to win gold in each length. His wins led the "Ice Maples" (the team identity for the Canadian national short track speed skating team) to win the team Crystal Globe, awarded to the group of skaters who earn the most points across the six international stops.[2]

At the 2025 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, Dandjinou broke through with a three gold and one silver medal performance. In his signature 1,500 m event, he won gold ahead of Stijn Desmet and Liu Shaoang.[10] He also won a gold medal in the men's and mixed relay events and won a silver medal in the 1,000 m behind teammate Steven Dubois. Following his four medal haul and three golds for Canada on the same day, Dandjinou said that "I was super happy with my level of execution today; it was probably my best 1,500m of the season. I am happy to share a world title with my teammate Steven and with the girls' relay team."[10]

On December 17, 2025, Dandinjou was named to Canada's 2026 Olympic team.[11][12][13] In February 2026, he won a silver medal in the mixed 2000-metre relay.[14]

Personal life

Dandjinou was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec to an Ivorian father and Canadian mother.[15] His mother, Mirabelle Kelly, is a medical biologist.[16] [17]

References

  1. ^ "William Dandjinou". www.speedskating.ca. Speed Skating Canada. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Heroux, Devin (March 13, 2025). "Disappointment to Domination: Canadian short track star Will Dandjinou's arc of redemption". CBC Sports. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  3. ^ Boutin, Richard (January 14, 2024). "Patinage de vitesse courte piste: William Dandjinou surmonte l'adversité pour briller" [Short track speed skating: William Dandjinou overcomes adversity to shine]. Le Journal de Québec (in French). Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  4. ^ Richard, Nicholas (March 12, 2024). "Vite sur ses patins, vite dans sa tête" [Quick on his skates, quick in his head]. La Presse (in French). Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  5. ^ "Canada's Dandjinou strikes gold for 2nd medal at short track World Cup event". www.cbc.ca/sports/. CBC Sports. December 17, 2023. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  6. ^ Charlebois, Michael; Morrison, Chloe (December 16, 2023). "Short track: William Dandjinou wins gold as Canada finishes Seoul World Cup with six medals". www.olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  7. ^ "Canada's William Dandjinou golden again at World Cup short track event in Germany". www.cbc.ca/sports/. CBC Sports. February 10, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  8. ^ "Canada wins six medals at Four Continents Short Track Championships". Toronto Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Press. November 5, 2023. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Canadian Dandjinou earns 1,000m gold in dramatic fashion at short track worlds". www.cbc.ca/sports/. CBC Sports. March 17, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Canadians win 3 gold medals at short track worlds in Beijing". CBC Sports. March 15, 2025. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
  11. ^ "Dandjinou headlines Canada's short track speedskating team for Milan Cortina Olympics". CTV News. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Press. December 17, 2025. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  12. ^ "Canadian Olympic short track speed skating team announced for Milano Cortina 2026" (Press release). Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Olympic Committee. December 17, 2025. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  13. ^ "Dandjinou, Sarault headline Canada's strong Olympic short track team for Milano Cortina". CBC Sports. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. December 17, 2025. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  14. ^ "Canadian short track speed skaters win silver in mixed team relay at Winter Olympics". The Globe and Mail. February 10, 2026. Retrieved February 13, 2026.
  15. ^ Heroux, Devin (March 13, 2025). "Disappointment to Domination: Canadian short track star Will Dandjinou's arc of redemption". CBC. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  16. ^ «Un jeune qui n’a pas abandonné»: William Dandjinou raconté par sa mère
  17. ^ Radio Noon Quebec with Shawn
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