When Australia’s short track speed skaters hit the ice in Melbourne this weekend, the stakes will be high for some of the youngest athletes on the program. Junior skaters born between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 1997 have the chance to impress selectors at the Medibank Ice House ahead of the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (WYOG) in Innsbruck, Austria.

The inaugural WYOG will bring together 1,100 competitors aged 15-18 from January 13-22, 2012. In short track speed skating Australia has earned one female quota place and is the first reserve for a men’s position.

The athletes that will be nominated to the Australian Olympic Committee for selection must also achieve qualification times. Male skater Armstrong Lazenby is the only athlete to do so this far, so this weekend’s National Championship looms as the perfect opportunity for these kids to fly.

Among the front runners for the ladies is 15-year-old Mari Deland of Sydney. The reigning Australian sub-junior Champion is excited to get the chance to compete in Austria in 2012.

“It would be a really different atmosphere,” Deland explained, whose only other exposure to international competition came at the 2010 American Cup in Cleveland, Ohio.

“That was a really good experience and I hope I can compete internationally again at the Winter Youth Olympic Games.”

The youngster of Scottish and Welsh heritage was born in Cardidff, Wales and moved to Australia at the age of two. The Deland parents are musical, so it was a friend of theirs from their orchestra that introduced Mari and her brother, Callum to the ice. Initially a figure skater, when Mari became faster than her brother in short track she had an inkling that speed skating was for her.

Deland now trains four days per week at Canterbury Ice Rink and squeezes in off-ice training five days each week including running and strength exercises. Her immediate goal is to compete at the 2012 WYOG and the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia are also on her horizon.

The Kellyville local who has looked up to athletes such as American superstar Apolo Ohno will need to secure a qualifying time in two of three speed skating distances (500m, 1000m, 1500m) this weekend to secure a place at the WYOG.

In men’s racing Lazenby has taken the early lead to push for a men’s WYOG position but promising Queenslander Alex Bryant is returning from an injury this weekend. During their previous major meeting at the Australian Ice Racing 2011 Duke Trophy in July, Bryant won the majority of his sub-junior races while Lazenby skated up from his age division to race the senior men and collect the Denis Pennington Most Improved Award.

Unfortunately the Australian boys will have to wait on another country to knock back a quota position before either of them can book a place at the WYOG.

The Australian Winter Youth Olympic Team will consist of approximately 15 athletes with bright futures for Sochi 2014 and beyond. The Team will be led by Olympic aerial skiing gold medallist Alisa Camplin as Chef de Mission.

Taya Conomos
AOC