Whitehorse speed skater sets 4 world records in her age class at Masters Games

Alison Anderson thought she was done with speed skating.

But when she went to register her daughter in the sport she competed in as a teenager, people at the Whitehorse Rapids Speed Skating Club told her she should come out and skate too.

"I just fell in love with it all over again," she said.

And it showed.

Anderson set four new world records in short track speed skating in her age category, 30 to 34, at the Masters International Short Track Games held in Calgary in late March.

Anderson set records in the 500-metre, 777-metre, 1,000-metre and 1,500-metre distances.

"It was my goal to set some world records and to achieve that goal. It just feels so awesome," she said.

When Anderson came back to the sport – she retired when she was 18 – she said she could barely stand up on the new skates.

"I could hardly make it around a lap on these skates. I was like holding onto the boards," she said, "[and] I was pretty good when I was 18."

At first, she thought there was something wrong with the blades, but there wasn't.

"They were fine. It's just the blades are so different," she explained, adding that she had also played hockey for a couple of years.

It took her "a good season" to get used to new speed skating skates. After that, she was able to work on her conditioning and technique.

"I've actually improved on my times that I had when I was 18, which I'm so proud of, because obviously I was in very good shape," she said.

Defend or better her records

Anderson intends to defend and try to improve on her records in the 30-34 age class by competing again in next year — her last year in that age class.

"And then after that I'll be moving into the next age class and there will be a Masters World Games in Italy, which is a multi-sport event like the Olympics," she said.

"And so I'm hoping to go there and set the new world record in the next age."