Player's Own Voice podcast: Back on track with Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu

Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu has one heck of a backstory.

He was a teen prodigy. A top-ranked world junior speed skater in both long and short track, which is extremely rare. The Sherbrooke, Que. native simply loved skating — and he had his own, happy, idiosyncratic ways that served him well. He was the kind of kid who'd warm up on a unicycle, instead of the usual stationary bike.

A new coaching regime stole all the joy from his sport, and his workouts strayed far into abusive territory. Physical injury from overtraining combined with mental breakdown in a perfect — but not perfectly understood — storm.  At the age of 20 he was broken and beaten and done with racing.

Four years away from the sport — spent travelling, tending bar, anything but skating — began to recharge the batteries, and then a coincidental meeting with another 'outsider' talent, Steve Robillard, lit the comeback fuse. Robillard encouraged Gélinas-Beaulieu to get into coaching, and that slowly rekindled his own love of the game.

As he tells Anastasia Bucsis, during today's Player's Own Voice podcast episode, it's all about the joy again.

Gélinas-Beaulieu determines his own workout regime for the most part, and he revels in helping encourage young skaters, and he is already rubbing his hands in anticipation of Milano Cortina 2026. 

Like the CBC Sports' Player's Own Voice essay series, POV podcast lets athletes speak to Canadians about issues from a personal perspective.  

Transcripts available provided for our hard of hearing audience. To listen to Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu  or any of the guests from earlier episodes, and more Canadian athletes from the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, head to CBC Listen — or wherever else you get your podcasts.