The news, as of Nov. 19, 2017, that short track speed skater Jamie Macdonald from Fort St. James will for sure be heading to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea in February is very exciting!
Macdonald began speed skating in 2000 with the Fort Falcons Club and has been a member of the senior national team since 2015. This will be Jamie’s first time competing on the Olympic Oval.
Up till the conclusion of the final World Cup speed skating competition on Nov. 19, Macdonald was on the “Provisional Olympic Team” with that proviso being that Canada would qualify a Women’s relay team. After the four qualifying World Cups, Canada has now actually officially qualified a full team of females with a spot in the relay (only eight teams get to compete) and three individual spots for each of the 500, 1000 and 1500 metre races.
Falcons Speed Skating Coach, Keith Gordon spoke with the Caledonia Courier last week to clarify the update following November’s final World Cup placings. Gordon explained, “Macdonald’s Olympic Team status is more secure. Of course hurdles remain – she has to train very hard now for the games. They skate an incredible number of laps through into January and then the volume of training declines as the intensity and speed of laps skated increases. Both high volume and high intensity are risky business as the athletes train to within a knife-edge of disaster.”
“Even with President Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-un both bragging that they have a button to press to initiate nuclear attacks and now one Republican is saying there should be a boycott of the games, “There’s no point dwelling on the likelihood of politics affecting the games,” says Keith Gordon.
“So we will be pulling for Jamie who will, barring illness or injury, get to attend the games as an Olympian,” says Gordon. “We’ll be hoping she actually gets to skate. Only Kim Boutin is assured of skating in individual events and the rest of the team positions are filled entirely at the coach’s discretion.”
Skaters Val Maltais and Maryanne Ste-Gelais both have finished higher in the fall world cup rankings in the 1,000 and in the 1,500. Jamie Macdonald is ranked third in the 500 but only narrowly ahead of Kassandra Bradette who is likely in her last and only Olympic games.
Gordon’s passion for the sport and his pride and interest in success of local athletes is quite evident. He shares his sharp insights into the sport from a coaches perspective; “So I expect the coaches (all from Quebec) would really like Kassandra to skate one distance. That might mean that Jamie only gets to skate the relay even though that, too, is only hoping that the coach would make that decision.”
“If I were coaching,” he says enthusiastically, “I would skate them as follows if all healthy and on their game:
500 - Kim Boutin, Marianne Ste-Gelais and Jamie Macdonald.
1,000 - Kim, Valerie Maltais and Marianne.
1,500 - Kim, Marianne and Valerie.
Relay Semi-final - Kim, Marianne, Kassandra Bradette, Jamie Macdonald.
Relay final (if successful) - Kim, Marianne, Valerie and Jamie.
“So it will be interesting watching it all play out and we really hope Jamie has thrilling and successful games,” concludes Gordon.
