January 8th, 2020, Charlottetown – P.E.I. short track speed skaters William Lyons and Kyle Connell had strong finishes on the Quebec provincial short track circuit over the weekend. Lyons, from Rock Barra, made his Group 1 debut on the Quebec circuit, racing in Laval, while Connell, of Charlottetown, was competing in Trois-Rivières in Group 2.
Photo caption: P.E.I.’s William Lyons (left) skated the fastest 1,000-metre time of the season by a P.E.I. skater, enroute to fifth-place overall at a Quebec provincial circuit competition in Laval, Que. last weekend. Photo courtesy of Daniel Villeneuve.
Lyons, who is training in Sherbrooke, Que. this season, came up with a fifth-place overall finish after entering the competition seeded 15th in Group 1. Lyons’ strong finish came after he earned A-final appearances in both the 500-metre and 1,000-metre distances. The Kings County native nabbed seasonal best times in the 1,500-metre distance as well as in the 500-metre. In the 500-metre event, Lyons won his semi-final with a sub-46 second time, which he improved upon again in the final. In the 1,000-metre distance, Lyons skated a new personal best and the fastest time of the season by a P.E.I. skater, stopping the clock at 1:32.831.
In Trois-Rivieres, Kyle Connell continued his impressive return to competitive form after missing the first two months of the season. Connell raced to second place in the 500-metre A-final, despite a false start which placed him behind three other skaters in the re-started race. The Island veteran also recorded a new personal best time in the 1,500-metre distance, enroute to winning the B-final. Connell finished seventh overall in his group and achieved qualifying times for this season’s short track Canada Cup events.
The Laval meet featured 122 skaters including 74 male competitors, while 143 competitors, including 82 males took to the start line in Trois-Rivières.
For full results and more information about speed skating on P.E.I., visit www.speedskatepei.ca.
