Courtney Sarault put together an Olympic performance like few others before her.
The Moncton-based speedskater went to her second-ever Winter Games and returned home with four medals – two silver and two bronze.
She was the first non-Quebecer to win an individual medal in short-track speedskating in Canadian Olympic history.
Viewing parties were held in different parts of New Brunswick to cheer her on as she competed in Milan.
But what happens now? Does the hype and excitement die down? Or does it lead to more young New Brunswickers taking up the sport?
The technical director of Speed Skating New Brunswick thinks it’s the latter.
“Absolutely,” Derrick MacLeod said in response to a question about Sarault’s success having an effect on the sport in New Brunswick.
“I mean, any way they can kind of raise the profile for a sport, because speedskating is something people don’t know a lot about,” MacLeod said. “They don’t see it often.”
MacLeod said many people don’t realize short-track speedskating is something that exists inside hockey rinks.
“There’s seven clubs across the province currently,” he said. “People, unless they stumble into it, they don’t really even know it exists.
“So for that profile, for people to realize it’s an option.”
MacLeod said any increase in interest and registration for the sport likely won’t be known until September.
“But we do know we have a lot more people asking about it,” he said. “I mean, people know the name Courtney Sarault, but people now know … what short-track is and how exciting it is.”
MacLeod said Sarault’s success, as well as two other New Brunswick-trained skaters at the Olympics (Rikki Doak of Fredericton and Brendan Corey, who trained in New Brunswick and now competes for Australia), will draw attention to the quality of the sport in New Brunswick.
“A lot of the narrative I’ve heard so far is Courtney will make the sport better,” MacLeod said. “And the way I look at is Courtneys exist because the sport here is good.”
He said there are already a number of young skaters ready to follow in Sarault’s tracks, some who are already having success at national and international competitions.
“There’s definitely some depth that we have here,” he said. “So we’re hoping this story will continue.”
