Carolina Hiller is in the short-tracked lane for speed skating success.
The 15-year-old from Prince George earned a position at the Canadian junior national short track speed skating championship, Dec. 8-9, in Toronto. Hiller said it was a nervous night in her house when they were waiting for the news on whether or not she had qualified.
"We didn't really know if I was going to make it or not so we were just crossing our fingers," said Hiller about waiting for the news in mid-November. "I was at home on the computer with my mom when she got the email. She was like screaming, 'Oh my gosh, you made it.' She sent an email back right away saying I was going to go."
The student at College Heights secondary began skating with the Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club when she was four years old and it's her first time being eligible to compete at junior nationals. Her age category has a mixture of girls between 15 and 19 with the majority of the skaters between 17-19.
Hiller will be one of three 15-year-old skaters among the 32 that qualified for the short-track competition in Toronto.
Hiller and coach Adam Ingle have modest goals for her first junior national competition.
"We want her to get some experience in the first year so she's not completely intimidated by this level of competition," said Ingle. "First-year expectations aren't going to be the same as future-year expectations. It's just so exciting that she's able to do this at 15 years old."
In order to qualify, a skater's time in the 500-metre and 1,500m races are added together to achieve a combined 2,000m time. In the 500m sprint Hiller has a personal best of 0:47.84 while her 1,500m distance personal best is 2:32.23 for a combined time of 3:20.08.
There are about 75 skaters across Canada, with the top 32 qualifying for the Toronto meet.
Ingle coached Hiller when she was younger and began working with her again this season after the two spent about three years apart.
"She's got far more focus now," said Ingle. "When you're 12 years old your focus is completely different - you want to go out and have fun and racing is part of having fun, but you don't necessarily train as hard as you're capable of. Now very rarely do I have to kick her butt to get a little more out of her at practice. She's one of the hardest working skaters I have.
"Her training has elevated to a higher level," he added. "Her dedication is much higher then it was and she's far more technically-minded. Before you could talk about the technical stuff but it wasn't really sticking in her head."
Hiller is the only member of the Blizzard club to qualify for the junior nationals and it'll be the first time she attends a speed skating competition with her brothers - 17-year-old Lucas and fraternal twin Nicolas.
