Even if he has already known for a while that he will participate in the Beijing Olympics, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu cannot believe it yet.
The 29-year-old Gélinas-Beaulieu will be at his first Games after a long journey in short track speed skating, a three-year hiatus from the sport and a return to competition in long track speed skating.
“It’s hard to do because we’re in a bubble, because I can’t celebrate it with my family and friends,” said Gélinas-Beaulieu by videoconference after the names of the 16 skaters who will represent Canada were announced. at the Beijing Games.
“It’s probably once I get there that I will realize it, that I will absorb it, that I will understand the magnitude of what I have achieved,” he added.
Gélinas-Beaulieu is one of seven Canadian skaters who will be at their first Olympic Games.
The Sherbrooke resident will participate in the 1000 meters and the mass start. This last event has been on the Olympic program since the Pyeongchang Games in 2018. It is a 16-lap simultaneous start race that includes four sprints where points are awarded to skaters. The first three to cross the finish line get on the podium. The others are ranked according to the points collected during the four sprints.
“When I was young, people asked me what I preferred between short track and long track, and I didn’t know what to answer. The mass start is like a combination of the two, explained Gélinas-Beaulieu. There is the speed side, the sliding side of the long track, with the strategic side of the short track for attacks, a bit like you see on a bike. »
“You have to think about a lot of things during a race and follow your instincts. I like it, skating in these conditions. »
Gélinas-Beaulieu would like to crown his first Games by winning a medal and he believes he has the potential to do so in the mass start.
Without setting specific goals, Speed Skating Canada executive director Susan Auch said she believes Canadian skaters could have the best Olympic harvest in Beijing. The Canadian record is eight medals at the Turin Games in 2006, when the delegation was led by Cindy Klassen and her four individual medals, in addition to that in the team pursuit.
Laurent Dubreuil and Ted-Jan Bloemen will be two of the men’s headliners in Beijing.
Dubreuil, of Lévis, won eight medals in as many 500-metre events on the World Cup circuit this fall. He also posted the third best time in history over this distance in Calgary on December 10.
Calgary’s Bloemen, for his part, made his mark at the Pyeongchang Games by winning gold in the 10,000 meters and silver in the 5,000 metres.
Like a rookie at his fourth Games
Among the ladies, Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann, both of Ottawa, and Valérie Maltais, of Saguenay, will be ones to watch in the team pursuit.
Maltais will be at her fourth Olympic Games, but it will be her first in long track after a long career in short track. She transitioned after the Pyeongchang Games to train in Calgary alongside her partner, Jordan Belchios, a member of the men’s long track team.
Now 31, Maltais intends to rely on her experience and is aiming for a medal in the team pursuit, and top-10 finishes in the 3,000 meters and the mass start.
“My Olympic cycle took place in stages,” said Maltais. The first year, I was discovering my sport, but I know my personality and I wanted to perform well. I quickly knew that I had potential in the discipline. Did I believe that was enough to make it to the Olympics? »
“I would say it was really during the current season, in the World Cups, that I felt that I continued to improve, that I was able to compete against others in a more calculated way. »
Long Track Speed Skating will take place February 5-19 at the National Speed Skating Oval, commonly known as the Ribbon of Ice.
Small disappointment for De Haître
Speed Skating Canada has unveiled its team without being able to organize its traditional selections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some skaters therefore did not have a last chance to fulfill the criteria to obtain their ticket to Beijing.
Among them is Vincent De Haître of Cumberland, Ont., who was hoping to compete in the Beijing Games in long track speed skating after competing in the Tokyo summer Games in track cycling.
The one-year postponement of the Tokyo Games, however, made it difficult for him to return to the ice.
“The Canadian Championships were about eight weeks after the Olympics and the World Cups, between 10 and 14 weeks after the Tokyo Games. It wasn’t long, and I had to face the best in the world, recalled the 27-year-old Franco-Ontarian. If you haven’t played the sport for three and a half years, it’s impossible to compete with them. »
“I expected to be close and to have a chance at the trials, but they were canceled due to the pandemic. I fought until the end. We will have a good team that will have a good chance of shining at the Olympics. I can’t wait to see her go. »
De Haître is part of a group of five skaters on the substitute team. They will travel to China only if a teammate has to cancel their participation by the start of the Games.