Samson completes gold medal sweep to win men’s championship; Storozhuk narrowly defeats New Brunswick’s MacDougall for women’s crown
CALGARY, ALBERTA – Quebec’s William Samson and Amina Storozhuk raced to their first career national titles at the 2025 Canadian Neo-Junior Short Track Championships presented by Intact Insurance this past weekend in Calgary.
Over the course of two days, the Olympic Oval hosted 58 male and 58 female skaters aged 14 to 15 from across the country. These up-and-coming skaters were looking to gain high-level racing experience and challenge for the podium across individual distances, with the top skater in each gender bringing home the title of overall champion.
Samson earned the maximum 30,000 points across his three individual distances on the men’s side, completing a gold medal sweep while also finishing first in all eight of his races – heats, semifinals and finals – across the two days of competition. Fellow Quebec-based skaters Oliver Tardif, one silver and two bronze, and Zack Daneau, one silver and one bronze, rounded out the top three with 20,800 points and 16,335 points, respectively. Alberta’s Jiaqi Lin was the top ranked skater from outside Quebec, earning silver in the 1000m to finish fourth overall finish with 12,539 points.
The battle for the overall title was a bit closer on the women’s side, where Storozhuk narrowly defeated New Brunswick’s Courtney MacDougall. Storozhuk took gold in the 1000m and 1500m, along with 500m silver, to finish with 28,000 points, slightly ahead of MacDougall, who had 26,000 points after winning 500m gold, as well as silver in the two other distances. Joining the pair in the top three was Quebec’s Alexanne Martel-Baril, who finished with 19,200 points thanks to three bronze medal performances.
Participants from this past weekend’s Canadian Neo-Junior Short Track Championships are encouraged to complete the Feedback Form to share their thoughts on the competition with Speed Skating Canada staff and local organizers.
The two remaining short track national championships of the season will take place later this winter, with the Canadian Youth Short Track Championships East running from March 20-22 in Dartmouth and the Canadian Youth Short Track Championships West going from March 27-29 in Winnipeg.