Frank Roth and Alexa Scott celebrate after being crowned overall winners at the 2020 Canadian Junior Long Track Championships at the Olympic Oval in Calgary. Credit: Dave Holland, CSI Calgary Photos

Alexa Scott of Clandeboye, Man. and Frank Roth of Calgary, Alta. were crowned Canadian Junior Long Track Champions this past weekend in Calgary at the national championship presented by Intact Insurance. The overall titles earned them each a spot on the ISU World Junior Championships team, where they will be joined by a minimum of three additional skaters per gender.

For the second year in a row, Scott skated to gold medals in all four distances that contribute to the overall title – the 500m (39.54), 1000m (1:16.75), 1500m (1:58.39) and 3000m (4:15.40) – defeating the field of 30 female skaters by a significant margin in each race. The 18 year old earned 159.945 total sammelagt points, over 10 points ahead of her closest competitor, and will return to the World Junior Championships for a third straight time.

Laura Hall (Salmon Arm, B.C.) was ranked second overall with 170.289 points, highlighted by a silver medal in the 3000m, fourth-place result in the 1500m and fifth-place in the 1000m. Hee Won Son (Calgary, Alta.) was close behind with 170.654 points, earning a silver medal in the 500m and 1000m, along with a fifth-place finish in 1500m.

The results were much closer on the men’s side, where Roth captured the overall title ahead of 42 other skaters. He reached the podium in all four of his individual distances, winning gold in the 500m (35.70), 1000m (1:10.33) and 1500m (1:48.67), along with silver in the 5000m (6:54.39).

With 148.527 total sammelagt points, the 19 year old edged out Hubert Marcotte of Pont-Rouge, Que. (150.190 points), who finished second in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m, as well as Calgary’s Jack Deibert (149.308 points), who was golden in the 5000m and earned top-10 results in the remaining distances.

The results from the 2020 Canadian Junior Long Track Championships will be used to select the team who will compete at the ISU World Junior Speed Skating Championships in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland from February 21-23, 2020. The final list of athletes representing Canada at this event will be released in the coming weeks.

“It was a little nerve-raking going into it because there’s a lot of stiff competition, but I was able to pull through with three personal bests and skated to my best potential in a lot of my races. It all worked out and payed off and I’m happy with how I skated.”

– Frank Roth
“I came in and felt like I had something to prove. I’ve been dealing with a back injury for the last eight weeks so I’m really proud of how I did. I got three personal bests and a pretty good Samalog (total ranking points).”

– Alexa Scott

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