Team includes four former World Junior Championship participants
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – U SPORTS and Speed Skating Canada are proud to announce the Canadian short track speed skaters selected to represent Canada at the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, taking place in Lake Placid next January.
Ten student-athletes will hit the ice at James B. Sheffield Rink, site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, with hopes of continuing Canada’s winning tradition in short track at the FISU Games. A total of 41 medals have been won by Canadian skaters over the years (8 gold, 18 silver, 15 bronze), including by Olympians and World Championship participants such as Guy Daignault, Louis Grenier, Michel Daignault, Maryse Perreault, Susan Auch, François Drolet, Jeffrey Scholten and Marc-André Monette.
Canada’s last FISU medal in short track was bronze in the women’s relay in 2015, while the last individual distance medals were claimed two-years prior in 2013, when Caroline Truchon, Patrick Duffy, Guillaume Bastille and Yoan Gauthier all reached the podium.
A compulsory sport at the FISU Winter Games, it is the first time since Granada (Spain) in 2015 that Canada will send athletes in short track. Added to the Winter Games sports programme in 1985 (Bellino, Italy), short track will be making its 18th appearance in Lake Placid. The speed skating program for the 2023 FISU Games runs from January 19-21 and will feature the men’s and women’s 500m, 1000m and 1500m, as well as the 5000m men’s, 3000m women’s and 2000m mixed team relays.
The Canadian team was selected based on their results at the 2022 Canadian Short Track Invitational, which took place in Montreal from December 9-11. These 10 skaters will be lead in Lake Placid by national program assistant coaches Yannick Desmeules and Elizabeth Migneron, with support from physiotherapist Marie-Pier Salvas.
ATHLETES
- Karina Montminy (Chicoutimi, Que.; UQAM)
- Wren Acorn (Yellowknife, N.W.T.; Athabasca University)
- Kélian Quevillon (Laval, Que.; Collège de Maisonneuve)
- Anne-Clara Belley (Candiac, Que.; Collège de Maisonneuve)
- Catherine Lamarche (Quebec City, Que.; Université Laval)
- Justin Bergeron (Alma, Que.; Université Laval)
- Philippe Daudelin (Trois-Rivières, Que.; Collège de Maisonneuve)
- Alexandre Migner (Sainte-Julie, Que.; Collège de Maisonneuve)
- Jérôme Courtemanche (Montréal, Que.; McGill University)
- Antoine Gagnon-Lamarche (St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Que.; HEC Montréal)
SUPPORT STAFF
- Yannick Desmeules, Head Coach and Team Leader (Chicoutimi, Que.)
- Elizabeth Migneron, Assistant Coach (Montreal, Que.)
- Marie-Pier Salvas, Physiotherapist (Sorel, Que.)