MONTREAL- Speed skaters usually focus on going long, or staying short, but 18-year-old Lea Thibault just can't seem to make up her mind.
She's a junior national champion in 1000m short track, and and last year won a silver medal in long track at the Canada Games in Halifax.
Thibault hopes to stay in the groove, following the example set by so many Quebec speed skaters from Gaetan Boucher to Marianne St-Gelais.
On the short track she is drawn to the speed and adrenalin.
"You start the race relaxed and you just analyze the race, and when you pass people it's amazing," said Thibault.
Her coach, former Olympian Jonathan Guilmette, says Thibault lives for racing.
"She's a competitor," said Guilmette. "She wants to win and she hates to lose. That's not something that everybody has like that in races, but she has something special."
She trains with some of the best skaters in the country at the Montreal International Club based out of the Maurice Richard Arena.
Thibault says the stiff compeition and fun atmosphere are key attributes to her success.
"I can improve a lot because just skating with them, I follow them," said Thibault.
But unlike many speed skaters Thibault makes a smooth transition from rink to oval.
"I think that the training of the short track helps her with the long track and long track helps her with the short track for sure," said Guilmette.
Thibault spends more than 20 hours a week on the ice, but says that amount of physical labour is easy because she loves what she's doing.
"It's important to have fun at what you do because if you don't like it, it's going to be be bad and you're not going to perform."
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