Marianne St-Gelais (born February 17, 1990) is a Canadian former short track speed skater. She won two silver medals in the 500 m and 3,000 m relay at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, and a third silver in the 3,000 m relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Roberval, Quebec, Canada | February 17, 1990||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Short track speed skating | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 500 m: 43.922 WR (2009) 1000 m: (2009) 1500 m: (2009) 3000 m: (2009) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Personal life
editSt-Gelais, one of five siblings, began skating at the age of 10 when her neighbour encouraged her to join the local speed skating club.[1] Her younger sister Catherine, 15, and brother Bastien 13, still skate competitively.
Marianne calls Saint-Félicien, Quebec her hometown but currently resides in Montreal. In mid-2018, she broke up with her then-boyfriend, short track speed skater Charles Hamelin.[2] St-Gelais as well as boyfriend Hamelin made Hello Canada's 50 most beautiful Canadians list in 2010.[3]
Career
editAs an accomplished junior skater, and world record holder, St-Gelais placed first overall at the 2007 Canada Games with four gold (500m, 1000m, 3000m and relay) and one silver medal (1500m). St-Gelais was named team Canada's "rising star" of 2009. Marianne St-Gelais is the 2009 world junior champion and world junior record holder in the 500 metres with a time of 43.922 seconds. St-Gelais won her first ever World Cup medal in 500m short track speed skating at Vancouver in 2009.
St-Gelais was a member of the Canadian team that attended the 2010 Winter Olympics in both the 500m and 3,000m relay.[4] Prior to these Olympic games she had yet to win any medals at an Olympics or world championships. On February 17, her 20th birthday, she won a silver medal in the 500 metres.[5][6] She followed this success with a silver medal on February 24, in the 3,000 metre relay, along with Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge and Tania Vicent.[7] After the Olympics St-Gelais continued on her success at the Olympics with a bronze in the 500m at the 2010 World Championships as well as a silver in the 3,000m relay.[8] At the World Team Championships St-Gelais was a part of the Canadian squad that won silver in the event. This concluded what was the most successful season of her young career, with 2 Olympic silvers, 2 world championship silvers, and a worlds bronze.
St-Gelais ended the 2010–11 ISU World Cup season as the 500 m World Cup Champion.[9]
At the 2014 Winter Olympics she took a third Olympic medal as part of the Canadian team in the 3,000 m relay.[10]
2018 Winter Olympics
editIn August 2017, St-Gelais was named to Canada's 2018 Winter Olympics team.[11][12] However she was unable to secure a medal there, being disqualified in the 500 m for interference. However, after the Games she competed in her eighth World Championships, where she secured a bronze medal. She retired from competition that year.[10]
References
edit- ^ "St-Gelais racing towards 2010 Olympics". Canada.com. March 31, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ^ "Olympic hopeful loves to go fast, on and off the ice". The Globe and Mail. December 24, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ^ "Fresh faces make Hello Canada's most beautiful list". CTV. May 13, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
- ^ cbc.ca Olympic Qualified
- ^ Lukas, Jennifer (February 17, 2010). "St-Gelais sees silver lining on her 20th birthday". CTV Olympics. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
- ^ "Canada's Winter Games Medals". Sporting News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2010. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
- ^ Lukas, Jennifer (February 24, 2010). "Canada takes silver in women's 3,000m relay". CTV Olympics. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
- ^ "Medal haul continues at short track worlds". Sportsnet. March 20, 2010. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ^ "Canada's St-Gelais wins 500 m World Cup title". CBC Sports. February 20, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ^ a b Marandola, Sabrina (May 31, 2018). "Marianne St-Gelais 'taking it 1 day at a time' now that she's a retired athlete". CBC.ca. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ Nichols, Paula (August 30, 2017). "10 short track speed skaters nominated to Team Canada for PyeongChang 2018". www.olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
- ^ "Gold medallist Hamelin to lead Canada's 2018 short-track team". www.sportsnet.ca/. Sportsnet. August 30, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.