Wanting to perform at home in front of her loved ones, Rose Laliberte-Rua managed to perform beyond her expectations, but it was not enough to secure a ticket to the Olympic Games in Milan Cortina.
With a time of 38.67, Laliberte-Roy finished third in the 500 meters at the Olympic trials presented Saturday at the Ice Center.
“This was my best race in Quebec ever and I believed in it until the moment I crossed the finish line,” she said. When I looked at the board to see how many times I failed.”
“I've been thinking about this moment for four years, about chasing Laliberte-Roy, caught up in emotion. My goal was to have fun and celebrate all the physical and mental work I've done over the last four years. I was faster than I thought.”
Laliberte-Roy loved to ride at home. “When I got on the ice, I looked up into the stands and recognized all the faces there. Having my loved ones around helps me. I'm doing well and I don't feel any extra pressure. My parents told me on Friday that they would be happy with my performance if I was happy.”
Since Beatrice LaMarche had already qualified, there was a maximum of two spots left. Caroline Hillier Donnelly finished first with a time of 38.45 seconds to earn a trip to Italy. Taking 2nd place, Brooklyn McDougall will have to wait until the end of tryouts to find out his fate.
Laliberte-Roy will return to action on Sunday in the 1000m, an event where LaMarche is also pre-qualifying. With two spots available, the skater from Levis believes in her chances of earning one of the passes.
Surprise at an altitude of 3000m.
Women also competed in races over 3,000 meters. With Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Malthe pre-qualified due to their performances at the World Championships, there was only one place left to be filled.
Having already pre-qualified for the 1500m, mass start and team pursuit, Ivanie Blondin wanted to add another event to her Olympic schedule, but the French-Ontarian (4m 07s 514) finished in 3rd place behind Laura Hall (4m 07s 087) and Malta (4m 07s 412), who took the start despite not being able to there were no problems.
Finally, the men's 5000m was won by Graham Fish, but the race had no impact on Olympic selection as Canada only has one entry for Milan Cortina, which belongs to veteran Ted-Jan Bloemen, who also qualifies for the 10,000m.
