Speed skating Salmon Arm siblings achieve dream of reaching Olympic oval

Competing in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games was an achievement-unlocked moment for Salmon Arm’s Laura and Daniel Hall.

Back in Calgary after making their Olympic debut at the Feb. 6 to 22 Games in Italy, the long-track speed skating siblings spoke with the Observer about the experience that left them wanting more.

“I think for both of us, from a pretty young age we both wanted to go to the Olympics…,” said Laura, who celebrated her 23rd birthday at the Games. “It was definitely the goal. I think both of us are still hungry for more.”

Laura competed in the 3000-metre and 5000M women’s races, while Daniel raced in the men’s 1500M and Mass Start.

Laura finished the gruelling 5000M event in 9th place with a time of 7:02.9, and finished in 13th place in the 3000M with a time of 4:06.13. Italy’s Francesa Lollobrigida won gold in both events, with times of 3:54.28 in the 3K and 6:46.17 in the 5K.

Daniel, 20, finished the 1500 in 23rd place with a time of 1:46.91, with China’s Zhongyan Ning taking the top spot with 1:41.98. In the Mass Start Daniel found himself out in the semi-final at 24th place.

“It was the first international 1500M I’ve ever done… so I guess it was also my best ranking by default,” said Daniel. “It was an OK race; I didn’t think it was my best 15 I’ve ever done but in terms of competition I think I ranked pretty well so I was happy with that. The mass start was a bit disappointing because I got out in the semi final, so definitely I want more for the next games.”

Laura said her Olympic results were bests in terms of international competition.

“I placed 9th in the 5000M – that was my first time placing in the top 10 in an international championship competition and same with the 3000, 13th was best that I’ve had in the 3oooM.”

Neither of the siblings knew what to expect of the Italian Olympic oval, with Laura explaining how in speed skating there are fast rinks and slower rinks.

“So Calgary and Salt Lake are kind of known for being the fastest ice ovals, and that’s due to the altitude. The higher altitude tends to be faster because there’s less resistance in the air,” said Laura. “Milan was sea level and it was a temporary venue so… we didn’t really know what to expect from the ice. It honestly worked really well; the ice was much faster than I think a lot of people anticipated it would be.”

Encouraged to do so, Laura said she wound up watching the CBC’s coverage of her races to listen to the commentary by Olympic analyst Anastasia Bucsis, who competed in speed skating events at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

“I don’t watch my races with the volume on; I don’t like to hear the commentary because depending on who you have sometimes it can be a bit brutal… but I had so many people reach out to me, friends and family, and say you’ve got to listen to the commentary…

“So I did listen to it on these ones. I know Anastasia… She’s excited about watching where we’re going to go and I think that makes other people excited as well.

“We didn’t end up on the podium this time, but she’s still pumping us up, letting people know this isn’t it for us, we’re kind of coming up still and hopefully can do more in the future.”

The Halls agree, noting they were among the younger speed skaters representing Canada at the Games.

“In speed skating, a lot of people are in their later 20s or early 30s…,” said Laura. “It’s definitely a bit of an older peak in our sport, so for both of us to qualify for these games, it wasn’t necessarily expected.

“We had our Olympic trials in Quebec in January and both of us had great competitions to qualify for these Games, so to be there was kind of check-mark number one.

“Just getting to the Games and getting to compete there and having good races for me was just the cherry on top.”

Cheering on the Hall siblings at the games were their grandparents and their father/coach Michael Hall, who competed in long track speed skating for Canada at Lillehammer 1994.

Michael and another former speed skating Salmon Arm Olympian, Marcia Beckner, founded the Salmon Arm Ice Breakers. At ages 5 and 3, Laura and Daniel began training with the Breakers as well as the Vernon Vortex Speed Skating Club.

Laura said her dad can “easily shift into coach mode” when watching her and Daniel race, but at the Games he was a proud dad thrilled to see his kids achieve a dream.

“After my 3K he texted me later in the day – he was like, ‘I just watched your race again. Amazing job!’” said Laura. “We’ve been dreaming of it for a long time but he’s also been a big contributor of that, whether coaching us, driving us to practice, driving us to competitions…

“Before we moved to Calgary, we were coming from Salmon Arm to Calgary almost every weekend in the fall and winter, so he’d drive us – leave after school, drive to Calgary and after the competition finished on the Sunday drive through the night to get home for school again on Monday.”

“It must have been 20 hours a week of driving,” added Daniel.

“We’d also go to Vernon twice a week for practice, Kelowna once a week for practice,” continued Laura. “It’s been our dream for so long… and he’s also kind of wanted this success for us so I think for him to get to be there and watch us do well on the world stage was just an unreal experience for him as well.”

Daniel is done with competition for the season while Laura will be off to the Netherlands in early March to compete in the two-day World Allround Speed Skating Championships. When not training or competing, she’s working on her undergrad in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary.

“I hopefully just have one year left of that after this year,” said Laura.

“I’m on my, I guess, second or third gap year now,” said Daniel, with Laura letting out a quiet giggle in the background. “I told my mom I would apply after the Olympics but I did not apply for school.”

One unexpected takeaway from the Games for the young speed skaters was the celebrity that comes with representing Canada. Laura noted how while returning home from Italy people would “zero in on our Team Canada gear.”

“So people were stopping us and wanting to take pictures and saying congratulations, and it was pretty cool because we don’t usually get that kind of attention when we’re travelling with the teams,” said Laura. “It’s definitely a unique experience travelling for the Games versus World Cups or World Champs or whatever it is.”

Daniel and Laura said they are grateful and thankful for all the support they’ve received before, during and after the Games.