Valerie Maltais, left, competes in the 10,000-metre roller sports speed skating final at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games on July 13.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Lined up on a hot, outdoor, black-top track at the Pan Am Games, ready to race some of the world's fastest women on rollerblades, Valerie Maltais wasn't thinking about the glory she has experienced on ice.
The 25-year-old from Le Baie, Que., has earned an impressive collection of short-track speed skating hardware, including seven world championship medals and an Olympic silver from the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. In Toronto this week, competing with speed queens from nations such as Colombia and Ecuador in the little-known sport of roller speed skating, Maltais was an underdog looking for a challenge.
She is one of four Canadians competing here in roller speed skating – like speed skating, track running and roller derby all mashed into one sport. Wearing short spandex racing suits, cycling-style helmets and inline roller skates, competitors blazed around a 400-metre track competing in 200-, 500- and 10,000-metre events. Elbows flew and competitors got physical as they passed and jockeyed for position in a very tactical sport.
On ice, Maltais has the respect that comes with being a decorated veteran. She added inline skating a few years ago – the Pan Ams are just her second major inline competition, so it felt quite different than it does skating in the pack on ice.
"On the start line, they don't expect much from you," said Maltais of being the outsider among more seasoned competitors who mainly speak Spanish. "Sometimes in the pack, they're going to respect you less. They don't want you in front because maybe they think you might fall or slow down the pace."
The wheeled sport is a secondary priority – she mainly competes to stay conditioned and get race experience during her summers.
"The strategy is very different here on this big track. In short track, there are so many more turns on the ice, more opportunities to pass," said Maltais, who didn't advance to Monday's 500-metre final, and finished seventh in the 10,000-metre event. "And out here in the heat, you have to think about rehydrating more than we do on the ice."
One of her teammates, Jordan Belchos of Markham, Ont., won bronze in the 10,000-metre men's event on Monday. He's skating in his first major multi-sport competition after spending much of the last decade in long-track speed skating, where he had fallen short of qualifying for the Winter Olympics.
Colombia dominated the roller speed skating medals in 2011, and at these Pan Ams too.
"It's extremely popular in Colombia, because wherever we compete in the world, we are always the favourite," said Colombian skater Helen Andrea Montoya Rios through a translator, draped in her nation's flag after a lengthy session with a crowd of Colombian reporters following her win in the 500-metre.
"Children start in the sport at four or five years old."
In Canada, roller speed skating is still a developing sport. The Pan Am races were staged on a renovated track at Scarborough's St. John Paul II Secondary School this week, with fans spectating from the lawns.
"There aren't many competitions in Canada," said Canadian coach Mike Murray. "We don't have 200-metre banked tracks here like they have in many places in the world, and it's challenging to find places to train inline, especially in winter. Those are the biggest challenges to growing the sport in Canada."
Canada's national team trains on car race tracks in Montreal, at parks, paved running tracks or indoor bike tracks. Still, many on the team recorded personal-best times this week.
"I can see how I've improved my strength and my power at the start from inline skating," said Christopher Fiola, an 18-year-old junior long track speed skater from Montreal who competed in the Pan Am 500-metre heats but didn't make the final. "And inline definitely helps me with my cardio."
It's not a new idea. Olympic short-tracker Olivier Jean set Canadian inline records at the 2006 nationals, and multiple Olympic medalist long-tracker Cindy Klassen competed in roller races at the 1999 Pan Am Games.
"I love competition, and I'm very happy to be here," said Maltais. "I think the two sports can be a really good combination."
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