Speed Skating Canada

COACH, NATIONAL PROGRAM

Gregor Jelonek

BIOGRAPHY

Gregor Jelonek has been coaching with the Canadian long track national team since 2002 and has been at the helm of the team’s Quebec-based skaters since 2011.

Jelonek was a member of the Canadian long track team from 1986 to 1992, a career highlighted by an appearance at the 1988 Olympic Games, where he finished 23rd in the 1500m. He competed at two World Junior Championships, one World Allround Championships and over a dozen World Cups. And in 2001, over a decade after his retirement, he was crowned vice-champion at the World Masters Championships.

Jelonek began coaching the Canadian junior national team in 1997 and moved to the senior ranks in 2002. Based out of the Gaétan Boucher Training Center in Quebec City, he has led numerous Quebecois athletes – notably Laurent Dubreuil, Alex Boisvert-Lacroix, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, Alexandre St-Jean, Francois-Olivier Roberge and Muncef Ouardi – to podium performances on the international stage. He has also coached for Canada at every Olympic Games since Turin 2006.

Jelonek was named Coach of the Year by Speed Skating Canada on four separate occasions (2000, 2012, 2016 and 2020) and has earned numerous Coaching Excellence Awards from the Coaching Association of Canada throughout his distinguished career.

QUICK FACTS

DATE OF BIRTH

September 16, 1968

BIRTHPLACE

Montreal, Que.

HOMETOWN

Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Que.

TRAINING CENTRE

Centre de glaces (Quebec City)

CERTIFICATION

Chartered Professional Coach (ChPC)

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Physical Education, Laval University

SPEED SKATING IDOL

Eric Heiden

HOBBIES

Cycling and gardening

FAMILY CONNECTIONS

My daughter Gabrielle is a NextGen skater with the long track team and my daughter Cloé is a short and long track skater at the provincial level

FAVOURITE PLACE TO COACH

Collalbo, ITA

BEST ADVICE

Just have fun.

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