For many athletes, the Canada Winter Games are a stepping stone to the Olympics. That tells Tim Hempsall he's on the right path.
Hempsall, an 18-year-old short track speed skater from Prince George, is part of Team B.C. for the Games, which start Friday in Halifax. The multi-sport event will have the look and feel of the Olympics, and that's where Hempsall wants to be in 2014 when Sochi, Russia, serves as host.
For now, however, Hempsall is totally focused on the Halifax gathering. He'll be a first-timer at the Canada Winter Games and couldn't be more excited.
"I think it should be an absolutely amazing experience, like nothing I've ever done before," said Hempsall, who has competed provincially, nationally and even internationally during his 12-year skating career.
"It's going to be so awesome. I've been reading my B.C. handbook and you stay in the village with all the athletes and then there are the gaming rooms and interacting with so many different people. And being in front of the whole country should be awesome."
Hempsall will take part in Friday's opening ceremonies and will then have a day to get prepared for the start of competition. He'll be on his blades for 500-metre, 1,000m, 1,500m and 3,000m races. His best event these days is the 500, a distance in which his personal-best clocking is 43.45 seconds. If he manages a similar time in Halifax, he should be in contention for a medal.
Hempsall, part of a five-man B.C. short track team, developed his skills as a member of the Prince George Blizzard but has been living and training in Calgary since the summer. He skates in the Olympic Oval program -- with world-class coaches eyeing his every move -- and that has helped him go faster than ever before.
"I've made a lot of technical improvements," said Hempsall, a 2010 graduate of College Heights secondary school and now a biological sciences student at the University of Calgary. "I've always been able to keep up physically with people. That has always been my strongest suit but I lacked the technical aspects. So now that I'm here with some of the best coaches in the world, it has improved my skating a lot."
In Hempsall's view, a spot on Team Canada for the 2014 Winter Olympics is a realistic goal.
"If you look at people who did really well at Canada Winter Games, you see they made national teams and went to the Olympics," he said. "2014 should give me enough time."
Hempsall will be the only Prince George short-tracker at the Canada Winter Games. But, in the long track discipline, P.G. will be represented by Sarah Pousette and Phillip Shrimpton.
Other Prince George athletes who qualified for the Games are: Sarah Beaudry, Robert Martin, Aaron Neumann and Arthur Roots, all in biathlon; Josh Connolly and Brett Harris (hockey); Alix Wells (alpine skiing); Matt Neumann (cross-country skiing); and Avril Harris (wheelchair basketball).
Local officials who will be in Halifax are: Lisa Davison (badminton team manager); Pierre Beaudry (biathlon team manager); Brent Arsenault (B.C. hockey coach); Brian Farrance (Yukon hockey athletic therapist); and Bruce Kamstra and Aline Strasdin (judo coaches).
See The Citizen this week for more stories on Canada Winter Games athletes and officials.
