Local Olympic speed skater, Maddison Pearman will be continuing her training after finishing off her first Olympics experience in Beijing this year. Pearman didn’t have much of a break following her experience in the Olympics heading to Europe only five days after she returned home from Beijing.

“I went over to Europe again and I stayed in the World Spring Championships in Norway. Then the following week, I skated in the World Cup Final in Heerenveen for the World Cup Final in the Netherlands. I didn’t have much of a break then but when I came home from that, it was kind of the end of my season,” said Pearman.

Returning home has been a heart-warming experience for the athlete who has seen much support from the Community of Ponoka. Much of the community has also donated in support of her athletic journey. Since returning home she has been visiting several of her fans and sharing her experiences at the local schools in Ponoka.

“I knew that the town was getting excited and supporting me, but coming back and just going to the schools and talking to people around town and going to all the businesses. It was really incredible to see the excitement and support from everyone,” said Pearman.

Some people in the community told the athlete that they followed her journey to have something to look forward to. She felt honoured to be a source of hope for people.

“It was just so humbling to come home and see people be so excited. I've been in the opposite shoes of knowing Olympians around Calgary and having close family friends go to the Olympics. Knowing how excited I was to have that role reversed and see people be so excited for me, was really overwhelming,” she added.

Pearman competed in Women’s 1500 Meter and Women’s 1000 meter in speed skating. She ranked in 26th in 1000 meter, an 24th in 1500 meter. In competition, she said some of her biggest challenges were getting over the time change and not being able to have her parents and family there for support.

“I thought I could have placed a little bit higher but I did execute what I wanted to in the 1500 and I had a mishap in 1000 and that was disappointing. There was a lot of good things that I took out of each race that I think moving forward next year and the next four years which was  a great experience. I've learned lots to move forward and be a better athlete and be more prepared next year for traveling internationally and competing on the World Cup Stage,” explained Pearman.

She is intending on continuing her training with a goal to returning to the Italy Olympics in 2026.

“You can’t really know for sure what will happen, but going to the games I just had a lot of motivation and drive and it fueled my fire to keep going for another four years. Obviously, I would love to bring a medal home in four years for Canada and also the Town and community of Ponoka,” added Pearman.  

You can stay up to date on Maddison Pearman’s journey by following her Social Media Page here.

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