Results set the stage for naming of Canada’s team for the World Junior Championships and Youth Olympic Games
CALGARY, ALBERTA – Quebec’s Miao Qi and Gabriel Jones were crowned Canadian Junior Short Track Champions at the Olympic Oval in Calgary last weekend. Each skater earned the most points among their respective fields of 40 skaters to capture the titles at the national competition, which was presented by Intact Insurance.
National team member Qi (Blainville, Que.) ranked in first place overall after earning 25,750 points overall and 20,00 across her best four distances, which are used to determine national champions. The 18-year-old earned gold in both 500m races, as well as the 1500m-1 and 1000m-2, along with silver in the 1500m-2. Claiming silver and bronze in the overall rankings were NextGen team members Victoria Jean-Baptiste (Laval, Que.) and Aaralyn McGill (Milton, Ont.), earning 18,000 and 12,800 points respectively across their top-4 distances.
Jones (Deux-Montagnes, Que.) climbed to the top of the podium with a total of 19,000 points in his top-4 distances. Over the course of the weekend, he won the 1500m-1 and both 1000m races and placed second in the 1500m2 race. Jones, who is a member of the NextGen team, was joined on the overall podium by teammates Adam Law (Mississauga, Ont.) in second place with a total of 15,560 points and Victor Chartrand (Laval, Que.) in third with 15,400 points.
The results from the 2023 Canadian Junior Short Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance will be used to select the team of five women and five men who will compete at the ISU Junior World Short Track Championships in Gdansk, Poland next February. The team will also participate at a pair of ISU Junior World Cup Short Track events in Leeuwarden, Netherland, later this month.
Four skaters will also be selected – based on results from these Canadian Junior Short Track Championships – to represent Canada at the Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea, in January 2024.
Canadian Neo-Junior Champions crowned at inaugural national-level competition
Last weekend also saw the Olympic Oval host 120 skaters, aged 14 and 15, for the first-ever Canadian Neo-Junior Short Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance, a new national-level competition created to provide meaningful racing and competition opportunities for a previously underserved age group.
A pair of Quebec-based skaters were crowned the first-ever Canadian Neo-Junior Champions follow three days of exciting races.
Camille Lavoie (Que.) came out on top of the girls group with 26,000, winning the 1000m and placing second in both the 1500m and 500m. Eliane Goudreault (Que.) took the second-place spot with a total of 20,654 points, and Prabhnoor Grewal (Alta.) finished in third with 16,077 points.
On the boys side, Omar Zoubir (Que.) finished the weekend in first place with a total of 18,398 points. Zoubir won the 1000m, finished in second place in the 500m and second in the 1500m D Final. Émile Fortin (Que.) ranked second overall with 14,846 points, and James Cousineau (Que.) finished third with 13,043.