Marianne St-Gelais

Marianne St-Gelais, born in Roberval, Quebec, began skating at the age of 10 when her neighbor encouraged her to join the local speed-skating club. After joining, she quickly advanced to the top in short-track speed-skating competitions. She placed first overall at the 2007 Canada Games by winning gold medals in the 500m, 1,000m, 3,000m and the team relay and taking a silver medal in the 1,500m. After becoming the 2009 world junior champion and world junior record holder in the 500m, she was named Speed Skating Canada's rising star for short track. Shortly after these events, she moved into senior competition on a full-time basis. She won her first-ever World Cup medal in 500m short-track speed -skating in Vancouver in 2009. St-Gelais was one of just four Canadian athletes to win multiple medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, capturing a silver in the 500m, which she won on the day she turned 20 years old, and another silver in the 3,000m relay. The success continued as she won a bronze medal in the 500m World Championships and added a silver medal in the 3000m to go along with it. In the 2011-2012 season, she earned her first World Cup victories in the 1000m. Although she won a bronze medal in the 1500m at the 2013 World Championships, she just missed the podium for the overall and landed in fourth place. The following year, St-Gelais found herself at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where she added a third silver medal to her Olympic career total when she won one as a member of the 3000m relay team. She had successful runs in the 2016 and 2017 World Championships, and in the 2016 event, she won her first career world title, taking gold in the 1500m to go along with her silvers from the 500m individual and 5,000m relay, which contributed to her runner-up position in the overall classification. In the 2017 World Championships, she won silver medals in the 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and overall classification. In both 2015-2016 and the 2016-2017, St-Gelais finished the World Cup season ranked first overall in the 500m. In August of 2017, she was named to Canada's 2018 Winter Olympics team. She has been named Speed Skating Canada's Female Short Track Skater of the Year five times (2010-11, 2013, 2015-16). She is one of five siblings, and she studied humanities at Cégep Collège de Maisonneuve in Montreal. She is engaged to fellow short-track team member Charles Hamelin.