Team BC short track speed skaters spent the day racing the 1000 metre event before moving into their final day of competition tomorrow at the 2019 Canada Winter Games.
Jane Green (Mission), Annabelle Green (Mission), Samantha Spencer (Burnaby), and Ainsley Spencer (Burnaby) all skated in the repechage rounds this morning. Out of these rounds, Jane Green would advance to the main event, along with Sherilyn Chung of Coquitlam, who qualified direct to main based her combined points from her 500 m and 1500 m showings earlier this week.
Lukas MacDonald (Vancouver), Craig Miller (Prince George), Marshall Shupe (Maple Ridge), Noah Hyun (Port Coquitlam), and Keanan St. Rose (Prince George) would all attempt to qualify for the main event via the repechage rounds. Hyun and St. Rose would both lock in results that secured them spots in the quarterfinal main event in the afternoon.
The quarterfinals saw a valiant effort by our BC Skaters. While Chung had a fall causing her not to advance, she maintained a strong position in the race until then. Jane Green finished out her quarterfinal showing with a time of 1:40.434.
St. Rose, Shupe, and Hyun would represent Team BC in the men’s quarterfinal round. St. Rose had an incredible start holding first place in the heat for a majority of the race, but a fall would see him lose the lead. Shupe swapped second and third place a few times in his heat before falling back later in the race. Hyun held strong in his heat, competing in a stacked heat alongside Manuel Falardeau from Quebec, Matej Pederson, Benjamin Cote and Mathias Bathe from Alberta, and Andrew Binns from P.E.I. Matej Pederson had a fall in the late half of the race, causing Hyun to slow down and avoid a crash. Unfortunately Hyun couldn’t make up the ground he lost and had a fifth place finish in the heat with a time of 1:30.660.
Chung and Jane would finish their day off in the D Final, with Chung claiming first place in the heat and a final standing of 16th, while Jane would finish the 1000m event in 21st.
On the men’s side, Shupe, St. Rose, and Hyun all raced in the D Final. BC had a confident showing in the event, with the three BC Skaters leading most of the heat. However, Matej Pederson from Alberta would take first in the D final, with Shupe, St. Rose, and Hyun following in that order.
Tomorrow will see Team BC Men’s and Women’s relay teams compete in the A final beginning at 1:38 p.m. The last podium finish for Team BC Women in the relay event was at the 2007
Canada Games with a Silver Medal and had a fifth place finish at the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Team BC men raced in the A Final in 2007, but were disqualified and did not medal. They achieved a fourth place finish at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.