Penticton’s Abigail McCluskey was the second best Canadian female in the 2016 International Speedskating Union World Junior Long Track Speed Skating Championships in Changchun last weekend.
"The experience was amazing," said McCluskey in an email. "The Oval in Changchun was very nice. There weren’t as many fans as I was hoping for. It was very quiet in the oval. When you were warming up the fans that were there along with the photographers would always want pictures with you so it was hard to concentrate on your race but it was also very cool to have people wanting to meet you all the time."
McCluskey finished 14th overall in the women’s standings. In the 1,000-metre women’s event, she finished 24th in one minute, 22 seconds and 61 tenths of a second. In the 3,000-m, McCluskey finished 12th clocking in at 4:23.01.
"I wasn’t happy with my 500-m but it was my first race of the competition so I was very nervous," said McCluskey. "I was very happy with my 3k. I executed it exactly how I wanted to and after a bad race in the morning in my 1,000m I was very happy to finish the day with a great race."
In the women’s mass start event, McCluskey’s teammate Béatrice Lamarche of Quebec City credited the Penticton native in helping her win bronze.
“It was a very good race, my teammate Abigail McCluskey did some good work for me,” said Lamarche on the Speedskating Canada website.
McCluskey, along with Lamarche and Gabrielle Sanson of Moose Jaw, took fifth-place in 3:16.35. McCluskey said she wasn't expecting the team to perform as well as they did in team pursuit.
"The TP is all about skating together and timing. On the team none of us train together at home so we had never skated together until we got to China," said McCluskey. "We were also a young team having a 16- and a 17-year-old when most teams were all 18- and 19-years-old so it ended very well for us. As a country we won the most medals. We worked very well as a team and our coaching staff was a huge part to everyones successes. I very happy I got to be a part of this team."
McCluskey added this experience will push her even harder to make the senior world cup team.