Alexa Scott’s Olympic dreams came true this week.
The former Virden resident was the top Canadian in the women’s 1,000m at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The daughter of Virden’s Malcolm and Judy Scott placed 12th in the long track speed skating event Thursday. The 20-year-old Scott posted a time of 1:15.79. Japan’s Miho Takag won the event in 1:13.19 – smashing the previous Olympic record of 1:13.56, set in 2018 by Dutch skater Jorien ter Mors.
Earlier in the week, family and friends got to watch on TV as Scott cheered her women’s team pursuit squad onto gold. She was the alternate skater for the team of Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valérie Maltais that set an Olympic record with a time of 2.53.44. The Final A was dramatic with Japan seemingly slightly ahead with half a lap remaining. A Japanese athlete crashed on the final turn and Canada skated to victory. Scott could be seen on television coverage, and she was captured congratulating her teammates in a widely circulated Associated Press photo.
Scott grew up in Virden until she was 10. Her family moved to Clandeboye, but her parents returned to Virden in 2021. Scott lives and trains in Calgary.
“When Alexa was nine, we took her to Brandon to try speed skating for the first time and after that practice she came off the ice and said, ‘they are just like me, they want to skate fast.’ After that, she hasn’t looked back and has intensely trained ever since,” Malcolm Scott said.
This is Scott’s first season competing at the senior level. As she is between 19 and 23, Scott fits into speed skating’s neo senior category but her results at the Canadian championships bumped her up to the senior level. In just her second World Cup event, she helped Canada win silver in the women’s team sprint.
