Manitoba roots go deep for Swiss sensation Speed skater McGregor credits grandmother, Klassen for inspiration By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 3:17 PM CST Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026 Last Modified: 10:29 AM CST Friday, Feb. 6, 2026 Updates

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MILAN — Her birth certificate may say Switzerland, but make no mistake: Olympic speed skater Kaitlyn McGregor’s roots are firmly planted in Manitoba.

For starters, there’s the strong family connection. Her parents, Mark and Faye, hail from MacGregor, a small farming community about 130 kilometres west of Winnipeg. Aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents are there as well. Yes, the McGregors have heard the jokes. No, the town isn’t named after them.

But secondly — and arguably more importantly — McGregor’s inspiration to reach this grand sporting stage can be traced directly to Winnipegger Cindy Klassen.

Remember the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, when Klassen set a Canadian Olympic record by winning five medals? McGregor certainly does, albeit from after the fact. She was 12 at the time, and it was that epic performance — brought to her attention by her grandmother through Free Press newspaper articles — that ultimately lit the fire.

“I didn’t know anything about speed skating. I played hockey. My dad was a hockey coach. But she sent all the clippings to Switzerland, along with a note, which said, ‘I think you can do this, too,’” McGregor recalled Thursday during a sit-down interview.

That gentle nudge from roughly 7,000 kilometres away was enough to set McGregor on a new athletic path — one that, exactly 20 years later, has led her back to the very same country where Klassen made history.

McGregor will make her Olympic debut here in Milan, competing in four events: the women’s 1000 metres, 1500m, 3000m and mass start. She’ll have all of Switzerland pulling for her, along with plenty of supporters back in Manitoba, where she still spends several months each year.

“I had somebody text me the other day saying, ‘Don’t forget, you’re Canadian, too!’” I was like, I could never forget,” she said.

So how, exactly, did we get here? To be clear, it wasn’t love at first sight with speed skating.

“Honestly, I did not like it at the beginning,” McGregor said with a laugh.

“My dad took me to the first training and the skates, compared to hockey, were just this little piece of leather. A flappy piece of leather. And it was boring. You’re just skating around in a circle. Compared to an action sport, checking people, playing against boys. It was just very boring compared to hockey.”

Hockey is also the reason McGregor will be racing at the Milano Ice Park with a white cross on her aerodynamic suit rather than a Maple Leaf.

At the time of her birth, her parents were living in the small Swiss town of Herisau, where Mark — a former member of the Portage Terriers and University of Manitoba Bisons — was working as an assistant coach with a professional team. He held that role until 1999, with the family returning to Manitoba during the off-season.

That coaching mindset proved invaluable when McGregor left the rink after her first speed skating session with a firm declaration: “I’m never going back. You can tell Nana I’m not going to do this.”

Mark suggested she take a deep breath and give it another shot.

“So we went back again, and back again, and then we went to the first competition. And I won. It was in Italy, actually,” said McGregor.

“And at that point I was like, ‘oh, maybe I could do this.’ So we kinda kept going. Ever since then it’s been my thing. But, yeah, Cindy Klassen and Nana. That’s what got me going.”

“Cindy Klassen and Nana. That’s what got me going.”

There were plenty more bumps and unexpected obstacles along the way.

As McGregor worked her way through the junior ranks and began winning events, the 2014 Olympics in Sochi emerged as a legitimate goal. She ultimately missed qualifying by a fraction of a second.

Once again, she was done with skating — and this time she meant it. McGregor hung up the blades for seven years and embarked on a new career path, including work with her father’s leadership development company.

But a funny thing happened on the way to permanent athletic retirement: the competitive fire returned.

“I could have stayed away from the sport for the rest of my life and nobody would have cared. But I personally chose to come back. It was like, ‘I feel like I’ve got something I’ve got to achieve here,’” said McGregor.

When she returned to the ice in 2021, the target was the 2026 Games. She nearly accelerated that timeline by four years, initially earning a spot for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing — only to be cut at the last minute when the field size was reduced.

“It was like, ‘Damn you speed skating, why do you keep hurting me?’” she said.

This time, she would not be deterred. Patience, and persistence, paid off. McGregor has been burning up the track, routinely setting personal bests and peaking at the right time.

“She has a very, very good natural flow. It’s what she had as a junior and she still has that now,” her coach, Kalon Dobbin, said Thursday.

“This season, each race is just getting better and better. To be honest, and I’ve been around a lot of different sports for so long, but when someone takes a long break, I don’t even know if there’s one per cent that can ever get back there. So that’s been impressive. Because there were a lot of hard times and a lot of frustration.”

McGregor credits the training and coaching she’s received in Switzerland, along with regular head-to-head competition against Europe’s elite programs, for pushing her forward. A fresh mindset hasn’t hurt, either.

“I’ve just enjoyed every single World Cup I go to, every place we travel to as a team. I’m just so thankful to be there. Because not many people get a second chance,” she said.

“I am just so thankful for this journey, you know?”

They say it takes a village, and McGregor credits hers for playing a massive role. Her parents and several family members from Manitoba flew to Italy this week and will be on hand to watch her compete against the world’s best.

“Since she was 16 she has had a vision,” said her mother, Faye. “She started with the end in mind and it’s so exciting to see it become a reality. And she’s not done yet.”

Added her aunt, Pam McGregor-Tarr: “I love to watch her skate because she does it with such joy. We are very proud of her hard work and perseverance.”

McGregor is under no illusion that she can replicate the success of Klassen, whom she hopes to one day meet and thank in person. This is more about realizing a dream than reaching a podium.

“I love to watch her skate because she does it with such joy. We are very proud of her hard work and perseverance.”

“Mass start, maybe, if enough people crash,” she joked about the potential for winning a medal.

“But in long track speed skating, there are no miracles. You know the lap times you can do. Honestly, if I could get a top 10, that would be unbelievable. But my main goal is just to reach my highest potential. If I’m satisfied with my race, if my coach is satisfied, then I’ll be good.”

Along the way, she hopes to inspire others. To that end, McGregor is scheduled to give a TED Talk in Berlin following the Olympics. She’s also certified to teach yoga and is a licensed nutritionist.

“I’d really like to go into the leadership direction. Very similar to my dad,” she said.

“Most people go through a hard phase. That’s just part of life. But you’ve just got to keep moving. You gotta press the reset button and go again. That’s what life is about: the journey.”

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