Carolina Hiller of Prince George now knows the feeling of being a repeat world champion.
Skating on home ice Thursday on the Olympic Oval in Calgary at the ISU speed skating world championships, the 26-year-old Hiller teamed up with Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin and Maddison Pearman of Ponoka, Alta., to win the women’s team sprint.
The Canadians finished in a national-record time of 1:25.4, nine-tenths of a second ahead of the United States and 1.49 seconds faster than the team from Poland.
For Hiller, who cut her teeth racing with the Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club, and Blondin it was a deja-vu climb to the top spot on the medial podium.
They shared in a world championship gold-medal win with Brooklyn McDougall of Calgary last year with in the sprint event Heerenveen, Netherlands.
“Becoming a world champion feels incredible,” said Hiller. “We were able to put together a perfect race and it feels great.
“Today, I just powered off the start. I was looking for our coach Gregor (Jelonek) in the corner and I heard him say we were good and close together. Maddison and Ivanie then had an incredible slingshot during the last lap to bring it home.
“Being at home with our friends and family here, it feels surreal. It’s huge to kick off world championships with a podium. I’m going into my 500 (Friday) and look to build off that momentum and energy.”
The Canadian men’s team - Anders Johnson, of Calgary, Alta, Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu, of Sherbrooke, Que, Laurent Dubreuil, of Levis, Que. – also won the team sprint.
Hiller will be back on the ice Friday (12:37 PT) to compete in the 500-metre event.
Allison Desmarais of Vanderhoof is scheduled to race Saturday in the 1,000 m event.
