STUDY IN PERSEVERANCE
Junio showed his ‘ medal’ at worlds
Phone on the fritz, he made a late-afternoon dash to the nearest Apple Store.
Emergency repairs, however, cost him his SIM card, so he needed to install a Dutch version.
“A full-on process,” Gilmore Junio reported the other day from Amsterdam. But one well worth pursuing. Because you never know who might be calling, who might be bearing good news.
Who might be itching to inform the speedskating ace that his World Cup status — third in the 500-metre standings — is being upgraded.
After all, the top fellow, Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia, has tested positive for meldonium, which the World Anti-Doping Agency banned.
The development ensures a bauble boost for Junio, no?
The Calgarian tries not to obsess about it.
“That’s yet to be determined,” Junio says. “Just thinking in my head of the logistics. Are they going to take my (third-place) plate back? Are they going to give me a new plate? And all the points and stuff? It’s just too complicated for me.
“I’m just super-proud of finishing third. If someone had told me at the start of the season that I’d be third overall and coming home with a shiny, silver plate, I might have laughed.
“I’m just relishing this at this moment.”
Nobody’s idea of a feather-ruffler, Junio continues, saying he’s proud of Speedskating Canada’s integrity, proud of competing clean, proud of the process.
Pressed, he acknowledges frustration about allegations of shortcuts, especially during a winter in which he cowboyed up and re-established himself on the international scene. It helps to remember what he was told by former coach Mike Crowe, who used to work with American star Bonnie Blair.
“That was back in the day of the East Germans,” Junio says. “The big thing he said to Bonnie was: ‘ You’ve just got to beat the cheaters through skating and skating the best that you can and putting the effort into your technique and into your speed and your training.’ If the only way they can beat us is to cheat and to take substances, I think that’s a compliment to us.
“If I can beat dopers or cheaters, that’s just the cherry on top for me.”
As it turned out, Junio blurred past everyone on the planet, except the aforementioned Kulizhnikov and his countryman, Ruslan Murashov.
This, if you’ve followed the young man’s career, represents a titanic turnaround.
A season ago, Junio was cooked — stretched thin by media requests ( you know the story) and lingering injuries. In 2009, he had fractured two vertebrae in a short-track collision, then, in true athletic fashion, “rushed the process of getting back.”
A ripped-up shoulder complicated matters.
His body, no shock, betrayed him during the 2014-15 campaign.
“Down year for me … kind of in the bubble zone of the A group,” Junio says. “The accumulation of the four years leading into the (2014) Olympics, then it all kind of snowballed out of control.”
Which made off-season priorities obvious. Last spring, he allowed physiotherapy and rehabilitation — and stretching and foam rollers — to take over his life.
The objective was simple: “Getting to the point where I was strong enough to handle the training load.”
Physique re-worked and remuscled, he authored his bounceback.
The highlight of which — you’re wrong if you assume it’s World Cup gold in Inzell, Germany — took place in Calgary. Sick as heck, he impressed himself by claiming silver at the Canadian championships in January.
“It’s definitely a big mental game when you have to forget that you just puked up your breakfast only five minutes before you go in a race,” Junio says with a chuckle. “When your body’s depleted of nutrients and you’re cramping, it’s just a big mental game. To finish second, it gave me some confidence.
“The skating was there, I just needed to have the engine to push that.”
Buoyed, he travelled to Stavanger, Norway, and nabbed bronze ( behind Kulizhnikov’s gold).
“Skating became easy and I found speed easier,” he says of the soaring second half of his season. “My starts started feeling better. That progression really built some of my confidence.”
Junio, by the time he reached the end of the World Cup schedule, stood third. A feat like that, more than having a single great finish on a single great day, appeals to him.
“Definitely big,” Junio says. “Consistency over the season is something I wanted to get. ( Winning the World Cup standings), you get a big cup and, obviously, being a hockey person, I wanted to hoist the cup over my head. It’s something that I’ve been chasing for a long time — I only got a plate, this time around.
“But to come third? Amazing. I’m super-humbled and really proud. … I definitely did surprise myself.”