January 3rd, 2024, Charlottetown – Island speed skaters Jenna Larter and Andrew Binns will take to the ice at Speed Skating Canada’s Long Track Canada Cup 1 in Quebec City this weekend. The Canada Cup is Canada’s selection event for this Winter’s ISU World Cups and ISU Four Continents Championships. The country’s top skaters will also race for points toward their Canadian rankings, used to help select athletes to the National and NextGen training programs for next season.
P.E.I.’s Jenna Larter will compete for PEI at the Long Track Canada Cup 1 in Quebec City this weekend. Dave Holland / Speed Skating Canada photo.
Larter leapt onto the national long track stage with a silver medal in the 500-metres at the 2023 Canadian Long Track Championships in October. She followed that with a trio of wins at the Oktoberfest Classic in Calgary a month later. In early December, Larter notched three more podium finishes at the CanAm International meet, also in Calgary. The Brookfield native enters the Canada Cup seeded fourth in the 500-metre distance and tenth in the 1,000-metre distance.
Binns, from Stratford, is also looking to continue his upward trajectory on the long track. After earning a last-minute berth in the Canadian Long Track Championships in October, Binns raced his way to a top-20 Canadian ranking in the 500-metres. He will race the Canada Cup as 21st seed in the 500-metres and 34th seed in the 1,000-metres.
Both Island skaters traded their short track skates for long track blades last season after successful short track speed skating careers. They train with the Elite Athlete Pathway Program at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.
The Canada Cup event gets underway on Thursday morning, when the Island sprint specialists skate in the first 500-metre event. Larter and Binns will skate a second 500-metre race on Saturday morning. The first 1,000-metre race goes later that day and the second 1,000-metre race takes place on Sunday. Live streaming, schedules, results and photos can be found at https://speedskating.ca/mec-events/2024-canada-cup-1/.
For more information about Speed Skating PEI, visit www.speedskatingpei.ca.
