Speed skater Jamie Macdonald racing today in her first Olympics

Moving to Quebec was an agonizing decision for short track speed skater Jamie Macdonald.

When she looks back on it now, 2 1/2 years later, she knows she made the right choice.

The change of surroundings gave her the chance to train every day with the fastest skaters in the world – her teammates on Canada’s Olympic team.

Today in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the 23-year-old will compete in the women’s 500m qualification round, the first short-track race of the Olympics, and Macdonald will have all of northern B.C., cheering her on.

Born in Kitimat and raised in Fort St. James, Macdonald admits competing in the Olympics might not have been possible had she not decided to pull the plug and move from Calgary, where she lived with her older sister Caitlynn and was close with her friends at university, just a day’s drive away from her parents. Once she arrived at the national training centre in Montreal and started training fulltime with the likes of Marianne StGelais and Valerie Maltais – both Olympic and world championship medalists – there was nothing holding Macdonald back.

“It was a tough transition coming to Montreal and leaving all that behind and learning how to adapt to a new training environment and all the new people, but it was worth it,” said Macdonald.

“I always like to have little goals for myself and it’s kind of amazing to look at Marianne, knowing I want to get to that point. I’ve been working every day to get up there