Olympian and two-time medallist Florence Brunelle returns to the World Juniors, seven skaters to make their debut

MONTREAL, QUEBEC – Speed Skating Canada is proud to announce the short track skaters nominated to represent Canada at the upcoming 2022 ISU World Junior Short Track Championships set to take place Gdansk, Poland from March 4 to March 6. This marks the first time the competition will occur since the 2019-2020 season due to cancellations relating to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Canadian team competing at the ISU World Junior Championships is comprised of Florence Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, Que.), Ann-Sophie Bachand (Sherbrooke, Que.), Qi Miao (Blainville, Que.), Anne-Clara Belley (Candiac, Que.), Alexandre Migner (Ste-Julie, Que.), Samuel Green (Mission, B.C.), Samuel Bureau (Montreal, Que.) and Thomas Simpkin (Chambly, Que.). Wren Acorn (Yellowknife, N.W.T.) and Nathan Vallières (Saint-Jerome, Que.) have been named as substitutes.

Brunelle, who has been selected to the Canadian Short Track Team for Beijing 2022, will be making her second career appearance at the World Junior Championships. She has won silver medals in the 500m and 1500m distances at the last edition held in Bormio, Italy in 2020.

It will be the first World Juniors appearance for the rest of the team, including 2021 Canadian Short Track Junior Champions Bachand and Migner. The team selection and nomination process followed the criteria outlined in Short Track High Performance Bulletin 194, located in the Resource Library on SSC’s website.

The team will be accompanied by coaches Jeff Scholten and Yannick Desmeules, team leader Shana Jean, physiotherapist Antoine Léger and team doctor Marie-Eve Roy. A group of staff will be supporting the team remotely from Montreal, including Jon Cavar who will serve as the high-performance link as well as additional members of the short track IST team.

“It will be exciting to get back to the World Juniors after 2 years without international racing. We have a strong team that could create a few surprises. The team has very little international experience, but they have been working very hard the past year to be ready to perform in Poland. I am expecting a very tense but enjoyable competition!”

– Jeff Scholten, Head Coach

“I am very happy to have landed my spot for the next World Juniors and to be able to represent Canada for the first time internationally. Since my début with the NexGen Team and more specifically since last summer, I have experienced great progress. The results that I achieved recently motivate me for the future and I am certain that the best is yet to come!”

– Ann-Sophie Bachand

“I am thrilled to be a part of the team going to the World Juniors, as that was my objective that I set for myself at the beginning of the season. Now that I have achieved this goal, I am aiming for good performances in Poland.”

– Alexandre Migner