Nova Scotia’s Julia Snelgrove finishes fourth overall in women’s Allround standings
COLLALBO, ITALY – Calgary’s Jalen Doan reached the podium for the second consecutive day at the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships, adding 1000m bronze to the 500m gold he captured on Friday.
Doan’s time of 1:10.93 helped him secure the final spot on the 1000m podium, behind silver medalist Didrik Eng Strand of Norway (1:10.91) and gold medalist Finn Sonnekalb of Germany (1:10.30).
Jalen Doan“My race was good, and I had a lot of fun competing with Finn [Sonnekalb]. I enjoyed the second day of racing. The 1000m is something that I’ve been trying to get better at and I was able to leave everything out on the ice. This was a big goal for me. I knew I was comfortable in the 500m, but the 1000m is something that I want to work on for the future, so this is a good start.”
With his two podium performances in Collalbo, the 19-year-old NextGen team member becomes the first Canadian male to win multiple medals at a single World Junior Championships since David La Rue captured 1500m silver and Mass Start gold in 2018. Tyson Langelaar (2017) and Benjamin Donnelly (2016), Christopher Fiola (2016), Laurent Dubreuil (2012) and Richard MacLennan (2010) are the only other Canadian men to have accomplished the rate feat since individual distance medals were introduced in 2009.
A pair of Canadian women narrowly missed out on the 1000m podium Saturday morning. Skylar Van Horne (Winnipeg, Man.) and Julia Snelgrove (Dartmouth, N.S.) finished fourth and fifth in the distance, +1.78 and +1.97 seconds behind gold medalist Jeannine Rosner of Austria, respectively.
With three top 10 results to her name, reigning national champion Snelgrove finished the competition ranked fourth in the Allround standings with 167.279 points, missing out on the podium by the slimmest of margins (0.43 points). Her teammates Van Horne and Isabelle Champagne (Calgary, Alta.) were 10th and 12th, respectfully.
Julia Snelgrove“I’m happy with my fourth place, but it’s a little bit bittersweet. I think I was hoping for another top 10 finish. I wasn’t sure who was going to show up and it was also outdoor racing, so there were a lot of variables. I was really pleased with my 1000m the past two weekends. It’s a distance I’ve been struggling with, but it kind of clicked. I’ve been having a good time, and the atmosphere here makes you want to skate a bit better.”
The ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships conclude tomorrow with the mass start, team sprint, team pursuit and mixed relay. Races can be watched live on the ISU YouTube channel.