The 18-year-old long-track speed skater from Dartmouth says she’s never been someone who sits still for long. On the ice, that restlessness has turned into momentum, and now, medals.
At the most recent international junior competition—the ISU Junior World Speed Skating Championships in Inzell, Germany—Snelgrove won silver in the 500 metres and bronze in the mass start, podium finishes that mark another milestone in a career that has steadily accelerated from local rinks in Dartmouth to the world stage.
“I don’t really like having a lot of free time,” she says in an interview with The Coast. “I’m pretty passionate about what I do.”
Snelgrove, who was born and raised in Dartmouth, credits the region’s abundance of ice facilities and sports complexes for giving room to explore athletics early. She tried competitive swimming, soccer and ringette before eventually finding her stride on skates.
Speed skating, she says, came into her life almost by accident.
A family friend with special needs competed in Special Olympics speed skating, and one day Snelgrove went to watch.
“I saw it and decided I wanted to do it, too,” she says. “That was kind of it.”
Now, speed skating dominates her schedule. Snelgrove trains upwards of 20 hours a week, typically starting with a two-hour skate in the morning, followed by either a weight-training session or a long bike ride in the afternoon.
“Growing up, if I wasn’t busy doing something, I’d get into trouble,” she jokes. “So it was recommended that I just fill up all my free time with sports.”
That discipline has paid off.
Snelgrove recently competed at her third and final Canadian Junior Nationals, where she once again proved she belonged among the country’s top young skaters. While she said she felt confident heading into the races, she was careful not to let expectations get ahead of execution.
“You never know,” she says. It is a competition, “but I worked hard and I was able to podium.”
Those results helped propel her onto the international stage, where she competed against skaters from across the globe at the ISU Junior World circuit in Inzell. The experience, she said, was both intimidating and motivating.
“A bunch of people from across the top of the world came,” she says. “It made for really good competition.”
Snelgrove’s rise hasn’t come without sacrifice. Like many high-performance athletes from Atlantic Canada, she has had to leave home to train at the highest level. She relocated to Calgary this season.
For her, the distance, a three-hour time difference and a five-hour flight have been one of the hardest parts.
“Living away from my family and friends is definitely the biggest challenge,” she says quietly.
Financial pressures are another reality of elite sport. Snelgrove says she’s fortunate to receive monthly funding as part of the NextGen national program with Speed Skating Canada, which helps cover basic living costs like rent and groceries.
“A lot of people aren’t in that position,” she says. “So I’m very lucky in that aspect, because it’s expensive.”
Despite the challenges, Snelgrove is already looking ahead.
Her long-term goal is the Olympics, possibly more than one, though she says the deeper motivation is simply staying active and continuing to improve. In the near term, she hopes to make the senior national team and begin the next Olympic cycle.
Preparation at that level, she’s learned, starts immediately.
“I got to train alongside Olympic-level athletes this year, so I saw firsthand what it looks like,” she says. “It’s a lot more hours, and a lot more off-ice work. It really starts as soon as one Olympic cycle ends.”
Back home, Snelgrove is aware that younger athletes, especially girls, are watching.
Nova Scotia isn’t widely known for speed skating success, she says, which makes representation even more meaningful.
“I think it’s really cool…It shows that it’s possible. Even from here.”
As she continues to chase bigger races and faster times, Snelgrove remains grounded in where she started, busy, determined, and always moving forward.