CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Island athletes came up big at the recent Canada East short track speed skating championships in Lévis, Que., grabbing three medals and a handful of new provincial records.
Andrew Binns brought home P.E.I.’s first ever gold medal, along with a bronze, from the event, while William Lyons of Rock Barra garnered a silver medal for the Island team of six skaters. Four members of the P.E.I. squad cracked the top-10 overall in their respective age categories – the most ever by Islanders in the event.
And P.E.I. coach Sarah Taylor was pumped the results.
“This weekend was a super finish to our team’s season. We had an extremely strong team last year and even with a slightly smaller group competing this time, we had more top-10 finishers than ever. We executed many of our races even better than last year, but didn’t always get the same breaks which can make a big difference in short track,” she said. “Seeing how our skaters were able to reset and focus on their next races after any setbacks was very encouraging. As the team reflects on this weekend, I think they’ll be quite pleased with their performances. Even with our small population, we’re building a strong program with athletes that can compete anywhere in Canada and it’s getting noticed. It’s an exciting time to be involved in speed skating on P.E.I.”
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Binns nabbed gold in the 200-metre sprint, clocking the only sub-20 second time in his age category and breaking his own P.E.I. record for 14-year-old boys in the distance at :19:938 seconds. The Stratford native finished third overall in his age group and also earned bronze in the 400 metres, bettering his own Island record time in the process. With the gold medal this year, Binns now has a complete set from the Canada East event after winning silver and bronze last season.
Lyons picked up silver in an exciting and hard-fought relay event, where he teamed with three New Brunswick skaters in the 12/13-year-old boys’ 3,000-metre relay.
Skating against three Quebec teams in the final, the Kings County skater and his Maritime counterparts overcame a crash involving Lyons and two other skaters, including another of Lyons’ team members, leaving them short one skater after a race stoppage and re-start with 25 laps remaining.
Lyons became the first Islander to earn a relay medal at the Canada East event. He had his best individual finish in the 2,000-metre points race, placing fifth. Lyons finished seventh overall in the 13-year-old boys’ category.
Kyle Connell set a pair of new P.E.I. records for 15-year-old boys and finished fifth in the 400-metre distance, en route to a seventh-place overall ranking.
The Charlottetown skater lowered his own provincial record times in the 400- and 1,500-metre distances and was instrumental, along with Binns, Thomas McQuaid and Carter Bruce, in propelling the lone Island relay team to a new P.E.I. record, a B final win and a fifth overall finish in the 14/15-year-old boys’ relay.
The Island relay unit, with a time of 4:41.609, took more than 16 seconds off the provincial mark set last season by Connell, McQuaid and Matt Kozma and had the fastest time of all non-Quebec based teams.
Liam Chatfield had a strong debut in the Canada East event, finishing ninth overall among 12-year-old boys and joining a select list of Islanders who have posted top-10 overall finishes at the championships. The Charlottetown skater had his best finish in the 200 metres, placing seventh, while also shaving nearly a second from his personal-best time in the 400 metres.
McQuaid and Bruce also set new personal-best times during the competition as McQuaid topped his old marks in all three of his timed distances while finishing 12th among 15-year-old boys. Bruce has new top times in 400 metres and finished 13th overall among 14-year-old boys.
With its two individual medals, P.E.I. finished tied for third with New Brunswick in the medal count, behind Ontario’s six and Quebec’s 97.
The event brought together 128 of the top young speed skaters from Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Nunavut.