MONTRÉAL – When Rockwood native Aaralyn McGill breaks from the starting line, the world around her seemingly falls away.
It’s just her and the ice.
At 20 years old, McGill is one of Canada’s top speed skaters in her age group, having proven herself among 2,500 other athletes in qualifying events across the country and recently in Speed Skating Canada’s trials in August.
She’s also among 100 athletes chosen to compete in RBC’s Training Ground National Final in Vancouver on Nov. 1.
McGill has never been to Vancouver, but in a distant way, that’s where her 15-year journey first began.
It was watching speed skaters at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on TV, when McGill, just 10 years old, realized what she wanted to do with her life.
“I’ve never thought I wanted to do anything else,” McGill told the Advertiser by phone. Everything since has been about realizing her Olympic dream.
She began at the Milton Speed Skating Club, eventually landed in Calgary in 2021 to pursue her dream and, at 16, started a computer science degree.
McGill made Speed Skating Canada’s junior national team and moved across the country again in 2024, this time for Montréal to train in short-track speed skating with Canada’s best.
She’s simultaneously balancing an early athletic career and an education at Concordia University, where she has switched her focus to biochemistry and anthropology.
With the busy season now starting, McGill juggles course loads and around 15 hours each week of on- and off-ice training.
There are three major national speed skating events in a season, and this year’s second happens in December, right around exam week.
“It’s a lot to balance, but I find as long as I’m managing my time, I’m able to do it,” McGill said.
But it’s the ice McGill pursues.
“It’s just you and the ice and you’re skating, and you’re going fast,” she said. “I just love it.”
McGill’s coming trip to Vancouver is a sign of progression.
Of the 100 competitors, 35 will secure funding and a spot in a national development program aimed at moving participants closer to the Olympic Games.
“I’ve done the RBC Training Ground (qualifiers) several times throughout the years, but this is the first time I’ve ever actually made the next rounds,” McGill said.
“I’m excited to go and give it the best, put my best foot forward, and give it all I got and see what happens.”
She’s improving year-by-year on her way to a 2030 goal of making Canada’s Olympic speed skating team.
Meanwhile, she needs to get onto Speed Skating Canada’s senior national team. From there she can get onto the world tour team – it’s from that roster Canada’s best speed skaters are selected to compete on the Olympic stage.
She recently finished ninth overall in the Canadian Short Track Championships, which also doubles as an “Olympic trials” event where athletes can advance onto teams.
McGill is expected to skate the 500-, 1,000-, and 1,500-metre distances.
Reaching top speed isn’t her challenge, it’s getting there faster.
“I’m not a sprinter; I need to be a sprinter,” McGill said.
The difference between McGill and a top finisher can be less than a second per lap.
To extract maximum potential at the starting line, McGill has a lot of interval and weight training ahead.
“I’ve always wanted to be someone that works hard to make it where they want to go,” she said.
Following Vancouver, McGill’s next major stops are Sherbrooke for the Canada Cup 1 event in December and Quebec City next year for the Short Track Canada Cup Final.
McGill said she returns to Rockwood two or three times a year, visiting family over the holidays, when her busy schedule allows.
Her parents, McGill said, always “knew that I was going to do whatever it took.”
“To be an elite athlete requires an incredible amount of support, both financially, but also emotional support from your family,” she continued.
“It requires a huge network, and I’m lucky enough that I have a very dedicated network.”
