Nicolas Hallet, PhotographieTB
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Julia Snelgrove Crowned Canadian Junior Long Track Champion, and Cooper Emin Qualifies for World Cups, in Quebec City Snelgrove makes history as Nova Scotia’s first-ever national junior champion; results set stage for naming to Canada’s team for the World Junior Championships in Japan QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC – Nova Scotia’s Julia Snelgrove was crowned national junior champion this past weekend in Quebec City, earning the best cumulative rankings across four distances to capture the title at the 2024 Canadian Junior Long Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance.
Snelgrove (Dartmouth, N.S.) had a near-perfect weekend, earning gold medals in the 500m (41.045),
1500m (2:07.314), 3000m (4:36.139) and Mass Start, as well as bronze in the 1000m (1:23.534). The 16-year-old, who represented her province at last year’s Canada Winter Games in PEI, is no stranger to the national podium, finishing second overall at the 2022 Canadian Youth Long Track Championships and third at the 2022 Canadian Youth Short Track Championships (East) last season. This weekend’s Canadian Junior Championship title is believed to be the first ever won by a Nova Scotia skater.
The results from the 2024 Canadian Junior Long Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance have
been used to select Speed Skating Canada’s team of five women and five men to compete at the ISU
Junior World Cup Final and the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships in Hachinohe City, Japan,
on February 2-4 and February 9-11 respectively. Snelgrove will race alongside fellow Canadian skaters
Sofia Bieber and Skylar Van Horne from Manitoba; Camille Tremblay from Quebec; Darby Beeson, Daniel
Hall, Max Poulin and Jalen Doan from Alberta; Luca Veeman from Saskatchewan; and Connor Waters
from Ontario.
It has been an exciting week for Snelgrove, she was recently named to the RBC Training Ground’s roster
of 30 RBC ‘Future Olympians’. The roster of ‘Future Olympians’ will receive access to top coaches,
funding, and mentorship as they strive to turn their Olympic dreams into reality over the coming years.
18-year-old Aoife Marshall (Halifax, NS) also competed at the 2024 Canadian Junior Long Track
Championships, placing 14th in the 500m, 14th in the 1000m, 10th in the 1500m, and 14th in the
3000m.
Also this past weekend in Quebec City, Nova Scotia’s Cooper Emin climbed onto the podium twice at The
2024 Long Track Canada Cup 1 presented by Intact Insurance.
Emin (Cole Harbour, NS) had a strong competition, earning a gold medal in 1000m-2, a bronze medal in
500m-2 (35.591), 7th place in 500m-1 (35.889) and 4th place in 1000m-1 (1:10.217).
The 26-year-old is a member of Speed Skating Canada’s long track NextGen Team of skaters with future
podium potential.
Based on his performance at the 2024 Long Track Canada Cup 1, Emin has been selected to attend ISU
World Cup #5 and #6. Emin will compete in the 1000m at both ISU World Cups in Salt Lake City on
January 26-28 and Quebec City on February 2-4. Canada’s World Cup team will also include notable
Olympic Medalists: Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin, Ted-Jan Bloemen and Laurent Dubreuil. Snelgrove and Emin are members of the Dartmouth Crossing Speed Skating Club. Snelgrove has begun training part-time this season at the Calgary Olympic Oval. Emin relocated to Calgary in 2016 for school and training. Marshall is a member of the Speed Kids Oval Program Society and relocated to Calgary this
season for school and training. All three will wrap up their domestic season with the Long Track Canada
Cup Final in Calgary from March 8-10.
Locally, the region’s top speed skaters will compete at the Atlantic Cup Long Track Championships at the
Halifax Oval on January 27-28, 2024.
Quotes
“I was a little surprised! I was almost sick. I was so nervous going into it. I only got onto the ice twice
during Christmas break because it was raining in Halifax, so there was a lot of biking. I think all-in-all I
was pretty rested coming into it, but I was surprised I was able to come home with a decent amount of
medals. I think Junior Worlds will be pretty exciting. I’ve never been to something like that.” – Julia
Snelgrove
“I was really pumped to bounce back after a tough race on Thursday (1000m-1) and put myself in a
position (in 1000m-2) to qualify for World Cups #5 and #6.” – Cooper Emin
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For details, contact:
Todd Landon
todd@landonedgeskating.ca
902-210-1600