Perceived as the future Quebec star of short track speed skating, Florence Brunelle has regained her big smile after experiencing a deep questioning after the Beijing Olympic Games in 2022.
“I joined the national team at 16 when I was still a child,” she says. I’m just 19, but so much has happened in the last three years. I got a little lost in it and didn’t really know who I was as a person anymore.
“I asked myself if this was really what I wanted to do in life to be a speed skater. The question is legitimate and I now have the answer: “yes, I love it and I can’t wait to see what the next few years will look like.”
A new leitmotif
After a year away at the senior level, the Trois-Rivières athlete approaches the Montreal World Cup, which is being held this weekend at the Maurice-Richard arena, with new maturity and much less anxiety.
“Just go do what you know you can do,” she now repeats to herself as a leitmotif before hitting the ice.
At the Beijing Games, she performed particularly poorly with a fall in the mixed relay event while the Canadian team seemed on track to reach the podium. When she returned, she was sad, disappointed, angry, but without really admitting it.
“I really felt like I was lying to myself, but also to everyone who looked at me,” she notes, looking back. When people asked me how I was going, I said I was fine when that wasn’t really the case.”
Living with failure
Over the past year, Brunelle has not hesitated to call on psychologists. After dominating at the junior level, she had to take stock to better approach her future.
“I developed a healthier relationship with success, but also with failure,” she summarizes. There is nothing to scare me about the results anymore. Now I look forward to competing to grow as a person.”
Dad’s contribution
In addition to health professionals, the athlete acknowledges having received significant support, that of his father Jean-François, who works as a physical trainer at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières. He is also a former player in the Quebec Major Hockey League and at the university level.
“My father has always evolved in the world of sport, he knows what the lifestyle of an athlete represents on a daily basis,” she explains. It was easier for me to go through this by having this father figure who was able to understand what I was going through. He helped me normalize it all and find tools to help me. There are things that can be explained, but there are things that are simply experienced.”
“Today, I am in a good state of mind, I am happy and I love what I do,” summarizes the main person concerned.
For the World Cup in Montreal, from Friday to Sunday, Brunelle will participate in individual events over the distances of 500 meters and 1000 meters. Without pressure, she will just want to do what she is capable of doing.
Door open for Courtney Sarault
Having dominated the general rankings at the Canadian Short Track Speed Skating Championships earlier this month, New Brunswicker Courtney Sarault is one of the athletes who will be ones to watch this weekend at the World Cup in Montreal.
At the Maurice-Richard arena, athletes from 33 countries are already busy training.
Like Quebecer Kim Boutin, who is currently devoting herself to her studies, Dutchwoman Suzanne Schulting and South Korean Choi Min-jeong are skipping the competition. The door thus opens for Sarault, but also for the other representatives of the Canadian team, namely Danaé Blais, Florence Brunelle, Rikki Doak, Claudia Gagnon and Renée Steenge.
The advantage of ice
Among the men, William Dandjinou was the one who was crowned at the Canadian Championships while veteran Steven Dubois remains the man of the big occasions. Triple Olympic medalist in Beijing, in 2022, Dubois knows very well that he can benefit from the advantage of the ice rink in Montreal.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
“I know how the ice will evolve over the weekend,” he said Tuesday during an interview at the Maurice-Richard arena. When I go outside, it always takes some getting used to. I’m heading into the weekend a little early. The confidence is there.”
“We have the advantage of the ice, we know it, we know where to take our speed and where to overtake,” said Pascal Dion, also recognizing that he does not have to deal with a time difference or change the usual routine. Everything is aligned for us to perform. Generally, when we start the season, we are a little less confident, but being at home pushes us to surpass ourselves.
Jordan Pierre-Gilles, Maxime Laoun and Félix Roussel complete the men’s team.
Three events
In addition to this first World Cup, Montreal will also host the second meeting of the season, from October 27 to 29. A third major event in the world of short track speed skating will take place in Quebec, with the presentation of the ISU Four Continents Championships in Laval, from November 3 to 5.