Salmon Arm speed skater Laura Hall returned from the Canada Winter Games with a medal for her efforts, proud of the fact she could rank among the best young competitors in the country.
Skating since she was just five years old, under the guidance of her father, Michael Hall, an Olympian speed skater himself, she has a long-standing love of the sport.
“It was just really fun and you got to go fast and meet lots of other people. It’s competitive but you also make friends with your competition so it’s a good environment to be in,” she says.
Though she has been to a few B.C. Winter Games in the past, this year was her first Canada Winter Games experience, and she enjoyed the experience being part of a large provincial team.
Read More: Salmon Arm’s Laura Hall on bronze-winning skating squad
“It was really fun, a good time. Just got to be around my friends and competitors. We compete in the same events all the time, we are always competing against each other and it was nice to be on the same team for once,” she says.
During the games, Hall skated with the B.C. relay team to a bronze-medal finish, as well a fifth and sixth place finish in two individual races. She says it was a good feeling to share the podium with the team and achieve something together as a group.
“The individual event can be really rewarding when you do well because you know it was all your hard work and it paid off. But the team event is also fun because you can have success with your teammates. I found it really rewarding that we were all able to get a medal and were able to celebrate together, nobody was disappointed while someone else was trying to celebrate their big win,” she says.
Undoubtedly, she is proud of the medal finish and being able to stand among the best young speed skaters in the country.
“It was really awesome, we knew that going into it we had a shot at the bronze medal, we just had to do a good performance on the day. So we really came together and did a good race,” she says. “This is like all of Canada competing, and multiple age groups, so it is definitely a big deal for me.”
Read More: Salmon Arm athletes help Team BC with medal, fourth-place ringette finish
The competition at the Canada Winter Games was the culmination of a year’s worth of training, both physically and mentally. Up next for Hall is the final round of the Canada Cup series, which she has qualified to attend for the first time.
“After the last race you get a national ranking, but only if you qualify to get to at least three. I am hoping to do well in that one and get kind of a starting point for the national rankings; this is the first year I have gone to all four of them,” she says.
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