Charles Hamelin led the way with a pair of medals, and Marianne St-Gelais added another piece of hardware for Canada Saturday at the first ISU short-track speedskating World Cup event of the season in Shanghai, China.

Hamelin, a 29-year-old native of Sainte-Julie, Que., won gold in the men's 500-metre event with a time of 40.803 seconds. He also picked up a silver in the 1,500m, finishing the race in 2:14.998.

Also earning spots on the 500-metre podium were Vladimir Grigorev of Russia (silver) and American Eduardo Alvarez, who took bronze. 

South Korea's Noh Jinkyu skated to gold in the 1,500 with a time of 2:14.982 while Russia's Victor An earned bronze in the event. 

Roberval, Que., native St-Gelais, 23, sprinted her way to a bronze in the women's 1,500-metre event, in a time of 43.715. China's Fan Kexin took gold and South Korea's Park Seung-Hi earned the silver medal.

Also on Saturday, 26-year-old Kamloops, B.C. native Jessica Hewitt just missed the podium in the women's 1,500m with a fifth-place finish in the Final A.

Francois Hamelin (2:22.598), Charles's brother, placed third in the 1500m Final B. Russia's Semen Elistratov won the event (2:22.232) with Japan's Ryosuke Sakazume placing second (2:22.523).

In women's competition, Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., placed second in the Final B of the 1500-metre race with a time of 2:36.617. China's Jianrou Li (2:36.553) and Xue Kong (2:36.905) took first and third respectively.

Charles Hamelin, a two-time Olympic medallist, had a scare during the Canadian trials in Montreal last month. He was cruising through his events until a collision into the wall with two competitors during a men’s 1,000m semifinal stretched a ligament in his left ankle, but he appears ready to go as the season gets started.

With files from Tony Care and The Canadian Press