Kalyna ROBERGE

Short track speed skater Kalyna Roberge began her international career at the 2004 World Junior Championships and, a year later, she was already finding success at both the junior and senior levels. In the former case she won gold, silver, and bronze in the 500 m, 1,000 m, and 3,000 m relay events respectively at the 2005 World Junior Championships. In the latter division she took home a gold medal from the World Championships in the 3,000 m relay. She qualified for the 500 m and 3,000 m relay events at the 2006 Winter Olympics despite sustaining a leg injury at the trials, and was the youngest member of the national team. Nevertheless she did well at the tournament, placing fourth in the 500 m competition and taking home a silver medal in the relay. Her success increased at that year's World Championships, where she earned bronze in the 500 m and 1,000 m events, in addition to silver in the 3,000 m relay. The following season was marked by continued national and World Cup successes alongside gold in the 500 m competition and bronze in the 3,000 m relay at the 2007 World Championships. One of her most well-known moments came at that year's Montreal World Cup during the relay when skaters from Korea and China, significantly ahead of Italy and Canada who were racing for third place, fell. With their bodies lying across the ice, Roberge was forced to leap over them to avoid going down herself, and Canada eventually won the gold. She continued strong in 2008, hitting an unofficial world record in the semifinals of a 1,000 m event, and took one silver (in the 3,000 m relay) and two bronze (in the 500 m and 1,000 m events) medals at the World Championships. She added another 3,000 m relay World Championship medal, bronze, to her collection in 2009 on her way to the 2010 Winter Olympics, where she repeated her feat of capturing silver in the 3,000 m relay and later added three silver World Championship medal to her collection in the team, 500 m, and 3,000 m relay events.