Blades of glory

River Heights

Wolseley

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/03/2023 (948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pair of west Winnipeg skaters — one a speedskater and the other a figure skater — are riding high and glinting with gold.

The Free Press Community Review caught up with the skaters, both of whom were profiled in recent papers.

Sofia Bieber, a 17-year-old long-track speedskating phenom, flew by the competition at the Canada Winter Games, winning a whopping five medals, three gold and two silver. She won her gold medals in the 500-metre, 1,000-metre, and women’s mass start events and tallied two silver medals in the 1,500 metre and the women’s team pursuit, the latter of which she shared with Team Manitoba teammates Robyn Salie, Lindsay Smart, and Skylar Van Horne.

The long-track speedskating events were held at the Halifax Oval in Halifax, N.S., while the majority of Games events were held on Prince Edward Island.

“I’m feeling amazing right now,” said Bieber, a River Heights resident. “I’m proud to bring a few medals to back to Manitoba.”

Bieber said she even surprised herself with this level of success.

“This race (women’s mass start) was a very unexpected win for me, due to the fact that I have not had much success in the mass start race before. I just had so much adrenaline going today during that race, just because it was so cold and it’s the last race of our competition, and I just really gave it all that I had,” Beiber said.

However, the speedskater said she could feel something special was in store before hitting the ice for her specialty event, the 500 metres.

“I was super-pumped for the race. The ice looked really good in the morning, and right before my race, I was feeling really fast and had a lot of energy,” she said.

Bieber said it was its own kind of special to win silver in the team event, too.

“To see us all have success together is really something I look forward to,” she said. “We’ve been training together for the past four years, so I really think this is a well-deserved medal.”

Bieber’s first honour came at the very beginning of the Canada Games, as she was chosen as flagbearer for Team Manitoba.

Across the country, in Calgary, 16-year-old Davey Howes put together a golden performance to become the Canadian novice men’s figure skating champion. That makes gold medals in two consecutive competitions for Howes, who topped the podium at the 2023 Skate Canada Challenge event in Regina, Sask. at the end of January.

“I’m feeling very happy and excited. It was definitely an exciting moment,” Howes said, his voice still brimming with pride.

As is standard, Howes skated both a long and short program, and he said the short program was where he really took it to another level.

“I definitely felt like the short program was my best of the season. I’m very happy and proud of that. I feel like I did pretty much everything I could in that program,” he said. “The long program — I was happy with the way I fought through it, but it wasn’t as clean and tidy as the short.”

Howes said he was pleased with how he handled the pressure of high expectations in a big event.

The Wolseley figure skater also received some big news after the event.

“I’ve been assigned to compete at the Coupe du Printemps in Luxembourg, which takes place in three weeks. That will be my first international assignment, which is really exciting,” he said.

Howes said there’s a lot of work to do to prepare for the competition (March 17 to 19), which is a bit nerve wracking, but it’s the first step towards his goal of competing regularly in international events.