Another good news for long track speed skating in Canada

By Carl Savard Photo by Patrick Charbonneau

After the announcement that the construction of the indoor oval in Quebec City would start in August of 2018, it was announced yesterday that Montreal will have an outdoor refrigerated 400m oval at Parc Angrignon in 2019. For many years now, a group of passionate volunteers has been working hard on this project, meeting speed skating fans during competitions, giving informations and gathering support for the project. Their hard work has been rewarded with the announcement made by the officials of the Montreal South-West borough.

Placing sixth in history for the number of medals won at the Olympics in long track speed skating, Canada doesn’t possess a lot of options when it comes to training in the sport, especially considering the size of the country. The western part of the country has two indoor ovals, one being more than 1200km north of Vancouver in Fort St.John, British Columbia while the other one is in Calgary where the national team trains. Another sport complex with a 400m track was built in Richmond for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games, but it losts its long track vocation right after the Games.

For young skaters in the eastern part of Canada, options were not optimals: moving to Calgary to train there or fighting against the cold weather to train outside at the Gaétan-Boucher oval in Québec City. With the construction of the indoor oval in Quebec and the installation of a refrigerated 400m track in Montreal, it’s fair to say that there will be a stronger interest in the sport in upcoming years, with more skaters trying it out. Long track might also become a more popular option for short track skaters pushed aside because of their age by the Canadian short track training center coaches who seem to be looking for younger athletes at the moment.

There is no doubt that the addition of an oval, even though it’s an outdoor one, is a major news for speed skating in Canada.