Sylvain GAGNON

Short track speed skater Sylvain Gagnon is the elder brother of the much more well-known Marc Gagnon, a three-time gold medalist in the sport. Sylvain had been skating since the mid-1980s, but rose to prominence at the 1992 Winter Olympics, when his sport of choice was first contested officially at the Games. He qualified to compete in only one event, the men’s 5000m relay, and took home a silver medal. He continued his success at the 1993 World Championships, where he placed first in the 500m, 1,000m, and 1,500m competitions, as well as third in the 3,000m event, and took second place overall at the tournament. Despite this he was not selected to join Team Canada at the 1994 Winter Olympics. He was later part of a team, which included his brother, Frédéric Blackburn, and Bryce Holbech, that set a world record in the 5,000m relay with a time of 7.09,76 on March 19, 1995 at that year’s World Championships. Replacing Holbech with Derrick Campbell, they improved their record on October 29th of that year to 7.02,48 and held it until December 8, 1996. He retired from active competition in 1997.