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Shmyr a golden girl at Canada Winter Games

Langley speed skater wins gold, bronze
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Langley's Courtney Shmyr was all smiles after winning the bronze medal in the 1500m short track speed skating event on Sunday in Halifax. And she was even happier on Monday

Courtney Shmyr struck gold at the Canada Winter Games.

The Langley short track speed skater won in the 500m short track speed skating competition on Monday at the St. Margaret’s Centre in Halifax.

“I love this distance,” Shmyr said.

“Winning the gold for my province was for sure the achievement I wanted.

“I’m very proud of myself; everything went as planned.”

Shmyr won with a time of 0:46.409, ahead of a pair of Quebec skaters, Cynthia Mascitto (0:46.515) and Elisabeth Albert (0:46.683).

Shmyr’s time progressively got quicker with each subsequent race. She was tops after the preliminary heats, at 0:48.427, was second at 0:48.014 following the first heat, and then leading the way with a quarter-final time of 0:46.886. She did drop back to second in the semifinals, crossing the line in 0:47.625 before finishing atop the podium.

This was Team BC’s second gold medal of the Games and it was also Shmyr’s second medal thanks to a bronze she won on Sunday in the 1,500m race.

Shmyr earned a spot in the podium thanks to a time of 2:38.282, just 0.175 ahead of fourth place. Gold and silver went to a pair of Quebec skaters, Ann-Veronique Michaud and Namasthee Harris-Gauthier, who finished in 2:37.178 and 2:38.124, respectively.

Shmyr won her heat in a time of 2:40.658, which placed her sixth out of the 49 skaters.

In the quarter-finals, she shaved more than two seconds from her time, finishing in 2:38.054 to move up to third out of the remaining 36. And then in the semifinals, Shmyr lost another three seconds, crossing the line in 2:35.604 to be fourth out of the 18 skaters.

The 18-year-old, who graduated from Walnut Grove Secondary last June, lives and trains full-time in Calgary.

Following the Winter Games, Shmyr is off to Italy, where she will skate for Canada at the world junior short track speed skating championships.