(Calgary) Only one member of Canada's International Skating Union World Sprint championship team is also a member of Canada's 2010 Olympic team. Anastasia Bucsis, the 20 year old surprise Olympian is the only member of the Sprint team who will skate in the Olympics for Canada. Heartbreak kid Tamara Oudenaarden who was told she had made the team, only to learn that timers had made a mistake and she was one position out of the Olympics, will join Bucsis as the second female member of the Canadian sprint team.
The men include the 20 year old who finished in seventh position in the Canadian trials sprints, William Dutton of Humboldt Saskatchewan. The six top finishers are all going to the Olympics. Dutton was a member of the Canadian World Junior Championship team in 2009.
Dutton will be joined by an interesting mix of veterans who are being sent to Japan to hold the line for Canada in the absence of her top line sprinters who are all opting to stay home and prepare for the Olympics. Matt McLean of Winnipeg Manitoba has battled for position on the National and International race scene for years. Vincent LaBrie of Quebec has fought back from injury. Tyler Derraugh also of Winnipeg, has done surprising well, thank you very much, for a guy who skated short track until this year. In fact, Derraugh had announced he was retiring before he learned he was on his way to Japan.
Canada has a mixed record at the World Sprint Championships. Gaetan Boucher (gold 84, Siver 79,80,82,85) and Cathy Priestner were medalists in the seventies and early eighties. Since then the men have done well enough to hold down third place all time with both Jeremy Wotherspoon (Gold 99 2000 02 03 and Silver 04 05 08) and Mike Ireland (Gold 01 Silver 00, Bronze 02) having won and earned multiple medals.
On the women's side it is not quite as illustrious a record but Vanoc 2010 #1 super-administrator Cathy Priestner (Bronze 75) and Sylvia Burka (Gold 77, Bronze 76) both gained the podium in the seventies. Since then only Olympic Gold medalist Catriona LeMay Doan (Gold 98 & 02; Silver 99, Bronze 01) and Cindy Klassen (Silver 03 & Bronze 07) have set foot on the podium for the women.
Canada probably won't see any medals, but then again you never know who will step up when given the chance. The two youngsters are the raw speed merchants of the group and they may work their way into the top twenty if they can hold it together. In any event the Sprint team shows how truly deep the Canadians are in the sprints. It all bodes well for 2011,12,13,and the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi Russia. Go Canada.
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