Steven Dubois, the reigning 500m and 1000m World Champion, is unequivocal: William Dandjinou will win medals in all three individual men’s distances at next month’s Olympic Winter Games. And, most likely, they will all be gold. 

Remarkably, the feeling is reciprocated.

“He’s just the most complete skater I’ve ever seen,” Dandjinou said of Dubois. 

“He has tools in his toolbox that are very, very impressive and that he can use in a lot of different situations.” 

Add on the fact that Dubois has three Olympic medals from Beijing 2022 - 5000m Men’s Relay gold, 1500m silver and 500m bronze – to Dandjinou’s zero, and there is some logic to the fact Dandjinou refers to the 28-year-old as his Olympic “mentor”. 

Not that Dubois sees it that way. 

“He would have to fall every race for him not to get a medal. For me that’s how unlikely it is, and unless there is something wrong with his equipment, I can’t see that happening,” Dubois said. 

“There’s just no way he doesn’t get medals.” 

Golden eagle: William Dandjinou's signature victory pose will be a familiar sight at the Milan Olympic Games according to teammate Steven Dubois © ISU

This surely explains why Team Canada have happily shared their target of seven Olympic medals in Milan. It is one thing possessing a squad of rampant winners who have utterly dominated the ISU World Tour for the past two seasons, but another to ensure that they are all working together in harmony. 

‘Everyone is safe to be themselves’

There is little doubt that it is Dandjinou who sets the tone here. Four years ago, he was sat in a hotel room as the alternate for Canada’s Short Track team at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. 

The frustration of missing out was certainly present, but it was the determination to ensure that no future teammate ever felt like he or she was resented that burned far brighter. 

“For a long time, only Charles [Hamelin – the four-time Olympic champion] was really performing a high level, the younger guys came and performed but there was a clear hierarchy, and I really didn't want it to be that way if I was ever in that position [of team leader],” Dandjinou said. 

“Being with the team I felt at the time, not that they didn't want me there, but that I was more of menace to their spots than actually like a teammate.” 

Since those Beijing Games, at which Canada finished fifth in the Short Track medal table, things have changed big time on and off the ice. 

“It feels great to have a really open relationship between skaters, that helps us improve a lot, in my opinion, and also creates an environment where everyone's safe to be themselves,” Dandjinou added. 

“That, I think, is very important to build a strong team.” 

Back-to-back Crystal Globes for both Dandjinou and the Canadian Ice Maples demonstrate the strength of the team beyond its leader © ISU

Dandjinou and Dubois might have won multiple world championship and ISU World Tour golds in the four years since Beijing, but nothing better illustrates the change in atmosphere than the fact the Canadian Ice Maples are two-time reigning ISU Team Crystal Globe champions – both titles won at a canter. 

“Maybe four years ago, I would have said it [the seven-medal target] would be stressful,” Dubois said. 

“But now it's like if I don't do it then it's going to be someone else, and if he/she doesn't do it, and it's probably going to be me. It’s like the pressure is shared around the team. So yeah, I feel like it's a nice little objective, and so far, we've got it at every [ISU World Tour] competition this year. So, it's definitely doable.” 

‘Doesn’t matter who wins’

While Dandjinou has long known what kind of leader he wanted to be, Dubois – four-and-a-half years his senior – has taken a little longer to figure it out. 

“I've seen Steven grow, he’s changed a lot in the last six years that I've known him,” Dandjinou said. “I feel like he he's very satisfied with the career he's had.” 

A recent convert to the joys of photography, Dubois agrees with his 1.91-metre-tall teammate. 

“I don't think there's much pressure on me. It's stressful, and it's going to be stressful when we get on the line, but I'm not feeling the pressure to have to perform,” said Dubois, who ended this season’s ISU World Tour campaign ranked third in the overall standings, behind Italy’s Pietro Sighel and Dandjinou. 

“Like Will said, I've done pretty much everything I wanted to do in Short Track, and the only things left is an individual gold at the Games. But it's not really something I care much about. Definitely I care about winning, but it's not, it's not life defining for me.

“I am pretty excited to see what I can do. You know, if I could do what I did with what I had four years ago, then definitely I can do some great stuff at the Games. But as a person, I feel like it’s about enjoying everything around me and just taking the time to be with people and make it worthwhile for them as well.”

Coming soon to a podium near you? Dubois and Dandjinou will be battling it out for gold in Milan and, they say, backing each other all the way © ISU

That sentiment very much extends to Dandjinou as well. He might be the biggest obstacle to Dubois getting that individual Olympic gold, but that does not stop him wanting his mate to get what he fully deserves. 

“I think it's going to be a bit of our responsibility, as a team around him, to just, you know, pull him towards the line,” Dubois said. “Get him to just keep doing what he does and not to change anything.” 

The duo know that to hit seven medals, they are likely to have to finish one-two in a final or two. And while Short Track might be the most unpredictable, high-octane sport on the Milano Cortina program, they’ll be doing their best to ensure they do indeed climb together on to an Olympic podium. 

“I think what really sets us in as a good relationship is when we do race together, especially finals, we do our own race, and when we come together, we only take the opportunities that we see, we don't like try to force anything,” Dubois said, before adding, “And it doesn't matter who wins, really.” 

The incredible thing is, you believe him.