McLean skates to two personal bests at speedskating sprint championships
CALGARY — Heather McLean’s coach demanded more from her after a disappointing result on Saturday.
She delivered with personal bests in the 500- and 1,000-metre events at the world sprint speedskating championships at the Olympic Oval on Sunday.
McLean finished seventh overall after placing fourth in the 500 in 37.29 seconds, 0.49 off leader Nao Kodaira of Japan, and ninth in the 1,000 in one minute 14.36 seconds, 2.08 seconds behind first-place American Heather Bergsma.
“I’m really impressed,” said Kevin Crockett, one of Canada’s team coaches. “Coming off … I wouldn’t say horrible, but an average day, I wanted to see what she was made of. It was a big victory in that sense. She showed she’s tough. There’s a lot of pressure here — big crowd, Mom and Dad in the stands. She showed up and it was a big breakthrough. A great day.