FORT ST. JOHN, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The Pomeroy Sport Centre in Fort St. John welcomed over 100 long track speed skaters aged 14-18 from across the country this past weekend for the jointly hosted Canadian Neo-Junior and Junior Long Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance, where four new national champions were crowned.
A pair of familiar faces – Nova Scotia’s Julia Snelgrove and Alberta’s Jalen Doan – earned the national junior titles following Sunday’s races. Both skaters represented Canada at last season’s ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships in Hachinohe City, where they were members of medal winning Team Sprint squads, earning bronze and silver, respectively.
Snelgrove (Dartmouth, N.S.) repeated as women’s champion after becoming the first Nova Scotia based skater to finish first overall at last season’s competition in Quebec City. The 17-year-old accumulated a total of 167.094 sammelagt points across the four Olympic distances, narrowly edging out Manitoba’s Skylar Van Horne (167.197) and Alberta’s Isabelle Champagne (168.230) atop the overall rankings.
Snelgrove was victorious in the 1500m (2:05.57), earned silver in 500m (40.05) and 3000m (4:28.88), as well as bronze in 1000m (1:20.73) and Mass Start.
“This weekend was the most fun I’ve ever had during a competition. Anyone there would tell you I was skipping and dancing around and that is not normally who I am. It was the competition I loved; these incredible girls alongside me showed the rest of Canada the amazing future of women’s long track speed skating, and I was just happy to be apart of it. The Canadian title was just a bonus!”Julia Snelgrove
For her part, Van Horne earned gold in the 500m and 1000m, as well as silver in 1500m (2:05.83), while Isabelle Champagne won gold in the 3000m and Mass Start, along with a silver in the 1000m. Also reaching the podium in individual distances where Darby Beeson (silver in Mass Start, bronze in 1500m, bronze in 3000m) and Camille Tremblay (bronze in 500m).
On the men’s side, it was Doan (Calgary, Alta.) that came out on top of a wide-open field of competitors to claim his first career overall title. The Albertan won gold in the 500m (35.93), 1000m (1:10.72) and 1500m (1:52.24), while also managing a top-10 finish in the 5000m and Mass Start. His 153.026 sammelagt points placed him comfortably ahead of British Columbia’s Matthew Mitchell (155.645) and Manitoba’s Adam Buchwald (156.092)
“I was very happy with my performances this weekend. I had a ton of fun competing with a new group of skaters and I’m excited to see how we can perform as a team internationally. I’m really looking forward to Italy. Collabo’s a track I’ve dreamed of skating at for years.” Jalen Doan
Outside of Doan, other individual medalists included Mitchell (3), Buchwald (1), Alex Wood (3), Christo Toshkov (2), Arnaud Parent (2) and Brock Gilbert (1).
The results from the 2024 Canadian Junior Long Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance will be used to select the athletes that will represent Canada at the 2025 ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships in Italy this coming February. The full list of participants will be revealed in the coming weeks.
CONTACT
Alain Brouillette
Speed Skating Canada
communications@speedskating.ca
613-601-2630