Short-Track Speed Skating Returns to Vancouver After 16 Years

Lausanne, Switzerland, Oct. 16, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Sixteen years after the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada’s next generation of short-track speed skaters will return to the city that inspired their careers, bringing back Olympic memories, home-crowd expectations, and a new season of racing to the Pacific Coliseum. The Short Track World Tour will kick off the 2026-27 season at the historic venue, showcasing the speed, power, and precision of short-track racing, rekindling the excitement that made the sport a highlight of the 2010 Games.

For Félix Roussel, Vancouver is more than the next stop on the international short-track calendar. It is where a childhood memory began shaping his future. Roussel was nine years old when he watched the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics from his living room. One moment, in particular, stayed with him: Canadian speed-skating star Charles Hamelin winning gold in the men’s 500 metres before returning to the ice roughly 30 minutes later to help Canada claim gold in the men’s relay.

Now 25, the Sherbrooke, Quebec, native is preparing to compete in Vancouver himself as a member of Canada’s national short-track team. The opening leg of the 2026-27 ISU Short Track World Tour will bring international competition back to the city for the first time since the 2010 Games, offering athletes and spectators an opportunity to reconnect with a defining chapter in Canadian Olympic history.

Introduced in the 2024-25 season, the ISU Short Track World Tour replaced the former ISU Short Track World Cup series, bringing together the world’s top-ranked skaters across multiple international events. Athletes compete in the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m distances, as well as relay events, earning points towards the season standings. Canada dominated the 2025-26 campaign, claiming all three Crystal Globes. William Dandjinou won the men’s overall title, Courtney Sarault won the women’s title, and the Canadian Ice Maples secured the team title for the second consecutive season.

For Roussel, returning to the same venue where his childhood heroes competed carries a particular significance. He hopes to draw inspiration from the atmosphere that surrounded those Olympic performances while creating new memories of his own.

An Olympic legacy that continues Courtney Sarault was 10 when she watched the Games. For her, the Olympics represented a moment when Canadian athletes demonstrated what was possible on the international stage. Watching Canadian athletes succeed changed the way she imagined her own future. "And it definitely changed my dreams," she said, recalling how the Games made her believe that she, too, might one day achieve something similar.

Sixteen years later, Sarault is among the athletes preparing to compete on the ice that helped inspire those ambitions. She sees the return to Vancouver as an opportunity for the current generation to build on the achievements of the athletes who came before them. Returning to the venue where they made their mark offers an opportunity to honour that history while adding new chapters to Canada’s story in the sport.

For both skaters, the connection between watching the Olympics as children and competing there as adults gives the Vancouver event a significance that goes beyond the opening weekend of a new season. Racing with the home crowd behind them The return also means something to Olivier Jean, Canada’s national short-track coach and an Olympic champion at Vancouver 2010. Competing in those Games is one of Jean's most defining career achievements. He hopes the atmosphere will be just as memorable when the international circuit returns to the city. Racing in front of a home crowd can give Canadian skaters an extra boost, with spectators’ cheers adding to the energy in the arena.

Sarault shares that expectation. She hopes the Canadian team will receive loud support throughout the competition, creating an atmosphere that helps the athletes perform at their best. The athletes will have to manage the pressure that comes with competing in front of a home audience, however. Sarault describes the moments before a race as particularly intense, with the first race of a competition often bringing the greatest stress. Her approach is to focus on positive self-talk, concentrate on the task immediately ahead, and avoid becoming overwhelmed by expectations about results. Rather than looking too far into the future, she tries to improve a little every day.

Speed, strategy, and the unexpected There is more to short-track speed skating than sheer speed.