The ice is fast at Harry J McDonald Memorial Centre in Eagle River for short track speed skating!
Ola Gawlak of Team Alberta took the Gold Ulu today in Short Track Speed Skating when she skated the 1000m in one minute and 51.03 seconds. (1:51.03).
Saiya McEachern of Team Northwest Territories also took home the Gold Ulu when he set the new Arctic Winter Games record in the juvenile U15 boys division. McEachern’s one minute, 46.52 seconds (1:46.52) is thirteen one hundredth’s of a second (0.13) faster than the former record set by Lucas Taggart-Cox in 2018. Taggart-Cox still holds three other records at the Arctic Winter Games.
Tuesday saw more records set in speed skating including Team Alberta’s June Lynch who broke the U15 girls 400m record in her opening heat, only to skate even faster in the Semi Finals with a time of 42.09 seconds.
Team Nunavut's Akutaq Williamson-Bathory broke an eighteen year old AWG record in the junior girls under 19, 500m. Her 48.84 seconds surpasses (NWT) Jill Gilday’s 49.1 from 2006. Jill’s Dad, Assistant Referee David Gilday of Yellowknife was on the ice as it happened, as was Akutaq’s ataata (father) Stephen, the Chief Track Stewart.
Speed skating resumes Thursday morning at 9am and again on Friday, where there’s potential for more records to be smashed, and more hope for athletes to continue rising strong.