Maddison Pearman racing the 500m at the long track speed skating Canadian Championships at the Olympic Oval in Calgary on October 18, 2019 (Photo: Dave Holland)

By Dan Hermanutz

PONOKA STAR ON THE RISE

Pearman carries medal-winning experience to World Cup speed skating event in Calgary

Feb 6, 2020 | 11:20 AM

After capturing two medals at last week’s ISU Four Continents Speed Skating Championships in Milwaukee, local speed skating star Maddison Pearman is ready for the biggest competition of her life.

Calgary is hosting the ISU World Cup at the Olympic Oval this weekend. The event will feature the best of the best from across the world, and Pearman will be right there with them.

“I think coming back into Calgary this weekend and get back into the routine of things is nice. It’s home ice so I don’t want to change anything,” said Pearman, who turned 24 last month. “I’ve skated well here and you know you have your routine and the best thing for me is to keep it all the same.

“There’s a lot of pressure and it’s great but I also want to look at it as just another race because I don’t want to get too nervous and try to change things. That doesn’t always work.”

The Ponoka native is preparing this week for only one 1000-metre long track race on Friday. Her training is a rigid schedule, six days a week, eleven months a year. If you want to beat the best of the best, you must prepare as much as you can, she says.

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“Last week leading into the Four Continents, it was a great competition to get the feelers out and get back onto the international stage and kind of learn from the pressure and learn from the mistakes, what worked and what didn’t” added Pearman.

“In Milwaukee, I (won) gold in the team sprint (and) a silver in the team pursuit. which was great. I had a couple of individual races, they didn’t go as well as I wanted them to, but I learned a lot from the competition and it was a great experience. So I will use everything that I’ve learned leading into this weekend.”

Maddison got her start in the sport at a young age when her sister started skating. Her mother Shawna Pearman, who was an established skater in her own right, was her coach until she was 18.

“It’s been an amazing experience watching her develop into the athlete that she is. She has been in Calgary six years now with other coaches, which has been great, but we’re very proud of her and excited to see her skate at her first world cup.”