Speed Skating Canada – Results set the stage for naming of World Junior Championships team for competition in Montreal

 

Nicolas Perreault and Claudia Heeney were named Canadian Junior Short Track Champions at the Calgary Olympic Oval on Sunday, December 16, 2018.

Credit: Dave Holland, CSI Calgary Photos

 

CALGARY, ALBERTA – Claudia Heeney of Ontario and Nicolas Perreault of Quebec were crowned Canadian Junior Short Track Champions at the Olympic Oval in Calgary on Sunday. Each skater earned the most points among their respective fields of 32 skaters to capture the titles at the national competition, which was presented by Intact Insurance.

 

After racing to a third-place finish in the 1500m on Friday, Heeney stood on top of the podium in her remaining two distances of the weekend, capturing gold medals in both the 500m on Saturday and Sunday’s 1000m. She finished with a total of 20,000 points in her best two races as a result.

 

Heeney was pleased, if a bit surprised, with her first-place ranking. “I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this competition,” she explained. “I felt confident in the training I have done so far this season and knew that I could be a contender. I’m happy that all of that hard work paid off.”

 

Juliette Brindamour of Quebec won the ladies 1500m and came fifth in the 1000m to finish third overall in the standings (14,096 points), behind Alberta’s Hee Won Son who earned 14,400 points after racing to second and third place finishes in the 500m and 1000m.

 

On the men’s side, Perreault finished the weekend with a perfect 20,000 points in his best two distances, winning gold medals in both the 1500m and 1000m. He had two false starts in the quarterfinals of the 500m to end his run at the podium in that race, but had that result dropped from his overall score.

 

“I won the 1500m at the start of the weekend, so that really decreased my stress and gave me a higher level of confidence for the rest of the competition,” said Perreault once the races were over. “In the 500m, I had two false starts which was a costly error. But I regained my form for the 1000m and am really happy with how it turned out.”

 

His teammate from Quebec, William Dandjinou, was second overall after picking up a gold medal in the men’s 500m and finishing second in the 1500m to earn a total of 18,000 points. Alberta’s Matej Pederson found the podium in both the 500m and 1000m, earning two silver medals on his way to the third overall ranking with 16,000 points.

 

The results from the Canadian Junior Short Track Championships will be used to select the team of four women and four men who will compete at the ISU World Junior Short Track Championships in Montreal from January 25-27, 2019. The final list of athletes, who will have the honour of competing on home soil, will be released in the coming days.

 

For more information about the competition, including full results, visit https://www.speedskating.ca/events/canadian-junior-short-track-championships-0.

 

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Media:

Nicole Espenant

communications@speedskating.ca

613-797-1630