SASKATOON — Team Saskatchewan speedskating coach Tim Comfort is expecting a challenging road ahead to look for the next generation of skaters to train and represent the province in national and international competitions.
Comfort is currently part of Team Sask’s delegation to the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Charlottetown, P.E.I. However, Competitions in speedskating events are being held at the Emera Oval in Halifax, N.S., as part of the contingency measures by the host of the quadrennial games.
Saskatchewan speedskaters continued to deliver for the province, claiming six of the nine total medals, with three silver and three bronze. Gymnastics had two silver medals in male and female synchro trampoline while Rhiann Arnold earned the bronze in women’s biathlon.
Luca Veeman and Bon Lowe had two silver each after winning their respective individual events, then joined Fergus Owen English and Daniel Pauli in the Male Team Pursuit for another podium finish. Veeman and 17-year-old Serena Dallaire won the bronze, with the latter clinching two.
Comfort plans to work on finding the next batch of speedskaters that would follow in the footsteps of Veeman and Lowe when Team Sask returns after the Winter Games. He is optimistic with the help of all stakeholders in the Saskatchewan Speedskating Association.
“It is a pretty easy question. For me, not so easily done. What needs to be done is to find new athletes with the same passion as these guys do, as many of them are moving on,” said Comfort in a media briefing on Thursday, Feb. 23.
“There are many steps that you need to go through to get to the level of these guys. They love what they are doing and they have been through it all. The parents must also be educated on things like having the proper equipment.”
He added that working with other coaches and [speedskating] clubs are the other things that must also be organized as integral parts of the plan to have youngsters get the same training and experience that Team Sask’s members had gone through.
Comfort said he is proud of the performance of Team Sask’s speedskating team in this year’s edition of the Winter Games, as the athletes supported each other from moments of victory and the agony of defeat.
“They are like a community. They care about each other and they support one another. Being a [speed] skater, you focus on grind and work hours. It is hard and what makes it easier is having friends that share the same passion,” said Comfort.
“They have done much work and shared many heartaches. We had one athlete that had a disappointing race. He had been dreaming of that event for four years, and it all disappeared in one moment. You can’t go through that without friends supporting you.”
Comfort did not mention the athlete’s name, who later won a silver in the four-member team pursuit event.
“I think being a community is the most important thing for most athletes. I’ve been working with each of these athletes. Numerous people have coached these guys. If they started at six, which many of them did, they had other people that got them interested. It has been probably eight years or so for most of them,” said Comfort.
“It might be 10 years for some like Daniel [Pauli] and Bon [Lowe] who are in their second year in university. It is also worth mentioning that once you reach Lucas [Veeman] and Fergus [English] in our sport, most move to a national training centre. That is where Bon and Daniel are now. They go on to try to achieve a higher level and make the national team.
