Going for her what would be her fifth gold medal at the B.C. Winter Games, Callie Swan was first across the finish line but ultimately did not win her favourite race at the B.C. Winter Games.
In the high-stakes world of short track speed skating, where one slight nudge or an improperly placed skate blade can mean the difference between the medal podium and a disqualification, that's all that kept Swan from adding to her impressive collection of gold.
The 15-year-old Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club member was disqualified for impeding another skater in the Under-16 girls 3,000-metre final, one little imperfection in an otherwise stellar weekend of racing two weekends ago at the Abbotsford Rec Centre.
"The same thing happened to Charles Hamelin at the Olympics, he fell and I got disqualified at B.C. Games - you just get used to it and move past it," said Swan. "I actually did win it but I got disqualified and that made it even more upsetting.
"That's the first time that's every happened to me but there's a first time for everything. It's hard but you just have to refocus and not let it get you down. It was right before my 1,000-metre race, so I had to calm down."
Known more as a long-distance threat, rather than a sprinter, Swan surprised herself by winning both 500-metre events. She also claimed gold in the 1,000 m and 1,500 m distances. In her only other event at B.C. Games, the 3,000 m mixed relay, her Cariboo-Northeast team was disqualified in the final and finished fourth.
Swan already had medal reputation established at the B.C. Winter Games. Two years ago in Vernon she won three gold and two silver in the U-14 age class.
"It just makes you feel proud of yourself," said Swan, a Grade 10 French immersion student at Duchess Park secondary school. "I had a good week [of practice] and then the competition came and I just had a really good weekend."
The Abbotsford rink is Olympic-sized and Swan had about a month of practice on the wide ice on her new home rink at Kin 1 to get ready. She's been training all season every five or six weeks on Olympic ice in Calgary with the regional training centre team and that got her used to cranking her legs at maximum intensity.
"I don't really notice the difference that much, but when you're passing someone there is lot more room," Swan said. "I've adjusted to this [Kin 1] rink quickly. I feel a bit safer now if I were to fall.
"Skating with older people who are faster than me makes it easier. I found out I can skate with these people. I can lead out and I'm not afraid to lead out and it's a big confidence booster."
Swan had never thought seriously about long track skating until this season, when she took advantage of the slick ice at the Olympic Oval in Calgary to win a couple medals in an Alberta provincial event. She said she likes both equally well and is going to try to make the B.C. team in either speed skating discipline for the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George.
Now ranked third in B.C. on the junior B (15- and-16-year-olds) girls short track team, Swan is qualified for the Canadian age class short track championships in Prince George, which will be held next weekend at Kin 1. She turns 16 on March 9, the final day of competition.
Her Blizzard club coach, Adam Ingle, predicts Swan will give local fans plenty to cheer about during the three days of competition.
"She performed very well at B.C. Games, as expected, and she's qualified for spot for the age-class nationals and she's looking very strong for that," said Ingle.
Blizzard skaters Lina Hiller, Lucas Hiller, and Allison Desmarais of Vanderhoof have also made the cut for age-class nationals. Prince George last hosted the event in 2001.
The ice at Kin 1 is getting faster and the mat system used to pad the boards is just one notch below World Cup standards and that means Blizzard skaters are getting braver testing the limits of their speed.
"We've had six weeks of training at Kin 1 and the kids have tons of confidence to go full-speed now," said Ingle. "The new facility is so much wider than what we had before [at the Coliseum] and the new mat system is much safer now."
