Speed skaters believe Toronto event could produce Vancouver effect
'We want the sport to be more popular,' says Valerie Maltais
The Canadian short track speed skating team is hoping that the World Cup event coming to Toronto's Mastercard Centre Nov. 6 to 8 will bring attention locally to a sport that Canada has dominated internationally.
This is the first time that Toronto will host an international speed skating event, and all of the best short track speed skaters in the world will be at this competition.
"The sport has everything — it has action, it has a lot of things happening at the same time, it's very entertaining and very fun," says Charle Cournoyer, 2014 Olympic bronze medallist in the 500 metres. "Everybody loves it at the Olympics, but after that speed skating doesn't get that much visibility anymore."
Hosting a World Cup event in Toronto should only help increase the sport's exposure.
Fans will see 156 athletes from 20 countries battle for medals in the 500, 1,000, 1,500 and relay races — among those stars will be Canadian medallists Charles Hamelin, Marianne St-Gelais, Valerie Maltais, Charle Cournoyer and Francois Hamelin. With nine of the top 10 women in last season's world championship overall standings present, along with eight of the top 10 men, the Toronto event should be a top-level competition.
"We want the sport to be more popular," says Olympic silver medallist Valerie Maltais. "It would be good to have a classic recurring World Cup here in Toronto just like Montreal and some other cities. It brings more people back every year and that will definitely help."
Must 'make the most of the exposure'
The Winter Olympics is where speed skaters normally get the most praise and attention. But like other popular Olympic sports, major speed skating competitions happen every year with six World Cup events per season, and a world championships that happens every March.
"We have to make the most of the exposure we get at the Olympics," says three-time Olympic medallist Marianne St-Gelais. "When we come into the Winter or Summer Games, we'll see sports that we've never seen before and viewers don't know who they're watching because they've never seen them before. We need to be seen."
Outside of his home of Montreal, Charles Hamelin doesn't often get recognized in public when living his daily life, despite being a two-time Olympic gold medallist and one of the best speed skaters in the world.
It's justifiable for him to expect more recognition, but he actually feels optimistic about the state of attention short track speed skating is getting.
"Back in 2006 after the Olympics in Torino, nobody knew anybody on the team," Hamelin said.
"After Vancouver 2010, people knew me and a bunch of the other Canadian skaters. When Sochi came in 2014, people already knew who we were. The big boom happened in Vancouver. After that people really started to follow amateur sport, and I really feel like it's growing."