Abbotsford short track speed skating star Alanna Kraus-Handley was inducted into the Olympic Oval Wall of Champions last Saturday in Calgary.
The Wall of Champions recognizes skaters who lived, trained and called the Olympic Oval home during their illustrious careers, and the ceremony to honour Kraus-Handley and unveil her tribute banner was held during an ISU World Cup short track event.
She joins fellow short track Olympic gold medalist Derrick Campbell, three-time long track Olympic medalist Catriona Le May Doan, Olympic medalist and recent Canada Sports Hall of Fame inductee Jeremy Wotherspoon, and two-time Olympic silver medalist Susan Auch on the Wall of Champions.
Kraus-Handley, a product of the Matsqui Blades speed skating club, trained in Calgary in the Olympic Oval short track program from 1994 until 2008. She was a member of Canada’s national team from 1998 to 2008, wearing the maple leaf at two Olympiads and earning a pair of medals.
At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, she helped her team to a bronze medal in the 3000-metre relay. At the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy, she brought home another medal, a silver, also in the relay.
Le May Doan hosted the induction ceremony, and Kraus-Handley was joined on stage by her husband Glen, her children, and her two siblings.
