Friends share podium at skating event
They push one another, as good friends will often do, and regardless of who steps onto the highest rung, everybody’s smiling.
“Jamie is one of my best friends and a good teammate, so to see him on top of the podium is awesome,” grinned Gilmore Junio.
“He’s a great training partner,” countered Jamie Gregg. “He was kind of chasing me last year and now I’m chasing him so it’s a good back and forth and it makes us both faster obviously.”
Gregg and Junio highlighted the 2013 Canadian single distance speedskating championships on Sunday at the Olympic Oval, with the former nipping the latter at the finish in their second race. Gregg, from Edmonton, took the 500m gold in a combined time of 69.35, while the Calgarian Junio settled for silver in 69.56. Quebec’s Laurent Dubreuil was third.
“What I’m hoping for is that we’re both on the podium in World Cup,” suggested Gregg, 27, a three-time Canadian 500m champ. “That’s what I’m looking for Canada to do, the best that we can. I’ll give him as many tips as he wants ... and he’ll give me his, too.”
In their head-to-head meeting in race number two, Gregg’s outstanding start of 9.59 propelled him to a winning time of 34.60, ahead of Junio’s 34.95.
“I wa s having trouble at the start of the year finding my rhythm so that last race I had a PB opener so I was pretty happy for sure,” related Gregg, who admitted his goal is a top-five at the world single distance championships in Sochi in March, which would basically qualify him for the 2014 Olympics. Before then, however, is a World Cup in Calgary in two weeks, as well as the world sprint championships in Salt Lake City a week later.
The 22-year-old Junio, meanwhile, has been neck and neck with his mentor all year long.
“Since I joined the team three years ago, Jamie’s been one of those guys who helped me a lot and helped me develop as a skater,” he noted. “I’m still chasing him, but I think it’s a good relationship; I think I push him a bit, too.
“First race went great; it was my PB (34.61). To skate that fast at this time of the year it’s a really great sign heading forward.”
The women’s 500m was a fourth straight title for Christine Nesbitt, who posted a combined time of 76.34 to finish ahead of Winnipeg’s Shannon Rempel (77.27) and Danielle Wotherspoon of Red Deer (77.41).
“I’m pretty happy with it,” admitted the London, Ont., skater. “The first race today was pretty good, but I knew I was missing something. I thought if I’m feeling smooth that means I just don’t have enough power going into the ice. I watched some video between my races and I focused more on pushing into the ice with my left skate. I was happy I was able to change something and sometimes that’s hard to do with such a quick turnaround.”
It was a somewhat satisfying few days for the 27-year-old, who also won the 1,000m on Saturday.
“I went from the 3k and I was quite unhappy with it to the 1,500 on Friday also bummed out,” she said. “Yesterday, it was better than the 1,500 and today was better than yesterday.”
Calgary’s Anastasia Bucsus, one of Nesbitt’s prime competitors, fell out of contention when she hit the ice at the start of her first race. She was allowed to get a second race in later in the day in order to pick up qualifying points.
I’m hoping ... we’re both on the podium in the World Cup JAMIE GREGG