SHORT TRACK
Remarkable rise of Short Track’s Dandjinou: the skater with ‘infinite legs’
13 May 2024
William Dandjinou (CAN) pictured during the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2024 in Rotterdam (NED) @ISU
In the first three months of the 2023/24 Short Track Speed Skating season, William Dandjinou (CAN) won his first five individual ISU World Cup medals, including two brilliant 1500m golds, grabbed a debut international championship title and beat a three-time Olympic medallist to be crowned Canada’s national men’s champion.
He capped it all off in Rotterdam, where at the Nederlandse Loterij 2024 ISU World Short Track Championships he won his first world gold, in the 1000m.
Now the man himself, his teammates and his head coach reveal just how he has done it all.
Two seasons ago Dandjinou was on the outside looking in. The then 20-year-old was in the agonising position of being the reserve skater for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. This meant that despite skating in every other major event he did he not get a chance on the biggest sporting stage of all. Not only that, he also had to watch on as his teammates won the men’s 5000m relay gold.
It was a “difficult time, I can’t lie” the Montreal native admits.
But crucially he got something out of it all.
“I learned to be a team player, to be being conscious I am lucky to be in this sport, I am lucky to be travelling the whole world and seeing all these beautiful places, racing these beautiful events,” Dandjinou said.
“Getting my head out of the game helped me a lot.”
William Dandjinou (CAN) competes during the ISU World Cup Short Track 2023 in Montreal (CAN) @ISU
It was not only a mental process either. The previously ultra-intense Dandjinou took action. He began to take his studies far more seriously – he is currently focusing on general sciences – and he embraced other off-ice loves, including chess and reading.
“The hard time I lived made me realise I can’t just put all my eggs in the same basket,” he shared.
It all coincided with a welcome change of philosophy within the Canadian short track squad. A transformation that has encouraged multiple new talents to flourish.
“Definitely before the Games there was a different vibe to it all. Everyone was more doing his individual stuff, less sharing, which is normal, it’s not a bad thing necessarily, but a new cycle came up and we tried to do better as a team and individually,” Dandjinou said. “Having more fun on the ice but also knowing when to relax and when to be serious… and being there for people when it is harder for them too.”
It is an environment in which the young Canadian has flourished. Not that he likes to take things easy. In fact his national strength and conditioning coach Kevin Roux reveals that he “always” comes back from pre-season in the best condition of anyone. But he clearly benefits from feeling, as he puts it “like he belongs”.
The Canadian head coach has loved the transformation.
“Mindset (has) changed a little bit, for a few years already he developed some skills but he was always trying to show everything in one race, which meant that at the international level he was a bit inconsistent but he has worked to be more focused and to do the right things at the right time,” Sebastian Cros said.
“He started to be more and more professional outside of training. All this has brought him now to where he is.”
Dandjinou’s haul from the World Cup events last season makes impressive reading. Add on 1000m gold at the Four Continents and a first ever overall national men’s Canadian title, ahead of three-time defending champion Dubois, and then the world title? You can see why he is grabbing headlines whenever he skates.
A natural showman, something Cros likes to encourage in all his skaters, the head coach does not “see a limit’ for Dandjinou.
The 22-year-old’s disappointment at coming in third in the final of the World Cup men’s 1500m in Beijing shows just how far he has progressed in own head. A big mistake followed in the final of the 1000m a day later. A race in which Dandjinou felt he was the “fastest but not the most intelligent” skater after he crossed the line first but was subsequently penalised.
“Not surprised but impressed,” is the overall verdict from fellow fast-rising Canadian Jordan Pierre-Gilles.
He has had a front row seat while Dandjinou has turned years of promise into the hard currency of top-level results.
At 1.90m tall Dandjinou has long been a front-running skater, looking to make the most of his advantages, something a celebrated teammate is envious off.
“It was a matter of time really for him to start being consistent, stronger, just to get to some medals but to this extent, I am pretty blown away. In the 1000m he looks so easy. He has infinite legs as we say. It’s pretty insane,” Dubois said with a puff of the cheeks, later adding, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a big improvement so fast.”
Not that Dandjinou is getting too excited just yet.
“It feels great but I didn’t prove anything yet. Still hungry,” he said before adding, ominously for his rivals, “I still feel like I have a lot to improve.”