WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
Ocean Woolley is heading to the world speed skating championships in South America.
BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS: Palmerston North teen Ocean Woolley has been building towards her goal of going to the world skating championships for years and it has finally arrived.
Woolley, 18, is heading to the world speed skating championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina next month.
This would be the biggest event she had been to, topping the Oceania championships she went to in Australia four years ago, so she was excited to go and compete.
She said it had been her dream to go since she started skating aged 4 at kindergarten.
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“I just want to try my best,” the Queen Elizabeth College student said. “It’s been a long-term goal for being at worlds this year.
“It’s my first year at worlds and there’s a lot of pressure. As long as I come off the track knowing I have done by best.”
Covid-19 had led to a lot of event cancellations recently, but Woolley has had a good year.
She won three silver medals at the Australian championships in Brisbane in July, which she said was challenging, and had competed at other events in New Zealand.
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
Ocean Woolley has been skating since she was at kindergarten.
Having competed in Australia she was feeling good about going to Argentina and knew what she needed to build on.
She had attended New Zealand camps and done a lot of training. She trained on her skates, off her skates, on a bike and in the gym.
Woolley preferred long-distance events ranging from 2km to 42km, but also enjoyed sprint races.
“I love the marathon.”
Her idol was overseas-based Palmerston North man Peter Michael, a multiple world champion who had been to two Winter Olympics for speed skating, a path Woolley hoped to follow as she got older.
She is coached by Andy McDonell and Sam Michael, Peter Michael’s sister.
Woolley has to raise $11,000 to get to South America and anyone who wants to support her can go to her Givealittle page: Representing NZ at worlds games.
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