Whether it's short-track or long-track, speed skater Nico Hiller is intent on finding the fast track to the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
The 16-year-old Hiller will begin that quest this morning at Kin 1 arena for the start of the two-day B.C. short track speed skating team selection meet.
Hiller, a 13-year Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club veteran, favours long-track skating and is ranked first in the province on 400-metre ovals. But he would love nothing better than to end this weekend having made the five-skater short-track team. It would take the pressure off when he heads to Fort. St. John later this month for the provincial long-track team trials, Nov. 28-30.
Eighteen male skaters are vying for those five spots at Kin 1 this weekend and Hiller knows he'll have to be at his best to guarantee he'll be one of the B.C. athletes in his hometown Canada Games in February. If he doesn't make the cut, he'll double his chances at the long-track trials.
"I'm coming into this weekend relaxed but I'm still focused at the same time," Hiller said. "If something were to happen at long-track trials I have a backup plan.
"I'm obviously going to be trying my hardest to make the [short-track] team. It is one of the main goals. I also want to just have fun this weekend."
Hiller has the fourth-quickest seed time for the short-track selection meet but that ranking becomes meaningless once he starts racing. He figures there are at least six other skaters who have a serious shot at making the team.
Hiller did not compete last March at the Canadian age class championships, the short track event which christened the rebuilt Kin 1 and its wide Olympic-dimension ice surface. He was away in Calgary at a Canada Cup long-track event and didn't get to race on his new home track. But he's had plenty of opportunity to practice on it since then and realizes how fortunate the city is to have the facility.
"It's so much better, you have pure confidence if you fall, the mat system is amazing," Hiller said. "Here, you can go 100 per cent all-out with absolute confidence and go nice and wide."
Hiller made the decision two years ago to focus more on long-track racing. He likes the technical aspects of cutting around the big oval and the control over his own destiny that sport allows. He's been close to his personal bests in several long-track time trials the past few months.
"I do long track because it's mainly based on how good you are technically and how your fitness is," Hiller said. "In short track, you can get away with a lot of things and a lot of it is how good of a racer you are -- there are a lot more variables.
"I just had a few really good races and it solidified what I wanted to do. Of course, I still skated short track really competitively and still go as hard as I can, it's just that enjoy long track more."
Hiller spends his summers training at the Olympic Oval in Calgary with the regional development long track team, where he gets to skate with senior national team members and Olympic medalists. That opportunity to learn from the pros several times a week is like a junior hockey player getting to train with NHL players.
"It feels good, it's kind of like you've made it," Hiller said.
Nico's twin sister Carolina's short-track seed time is tops in the province, followed by Blizzard club members Allison Desmarais, Callie Swan and Madison Pilling. Blizzard head coach Adam Ingle says there has never been a higher-stakes meet for his top skaters.
"This is a lot of years in the building to get to here, and we're hoping that many of them make the team this weekend," said Ingle. "It seems early but all of these kids have attended multiple competitions this year.
"Some of them are still trying to juggle short track and long track. I expect a few of them if they make the team this weekend they 're going to focus on short track for the rest of the year and let the long track side f it go, so they can dedicate themselves to one event. But for someone like Nico, his heart is in long track, and he's doing this as an insurance policy in case he has a bad meet for long track."
Fourteen female skaters are entered in the selection meet. Racing starts today at 8:15 a.m. with the qualifying 1,000-metre time trials. Today's schedule includes the 1,500m heats and finals and the 500 m heats. Sunday's races start at 8:45 a.m. with the 500m semifinals and finals, followed by the 1,000m heats and finals and the 3,000m points race.
