Share this Story: White City's Hudey quickly overcame rough start
White City's Hudey quickly overcame rough start
Rob Vanstone • Regina Leader-Post
Feb 05, 2018 • February 5, 2018 • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
White City's Marsha Hudey is ready for her second consecutive Winter Olympic Games. Photo by Atsushi Tomura /Getty Images
Marsha Hudey began the fall season with a fall.
That spill was not an indication of things to come.
White City's Hudey quickly overcame rough start Back to video
The White City-born long-track speed skater has rebounded from a shaky start to the International Skating Union's 2017-18 World Cup season by not only earning her first medal on that circuit, but also qualifying for her second Winter Olympic Games.
"I think the biggest thing is just getting up and going again," says Hudey, 27, who opened the season Nov. 11 in Heenrenveen, Netherlands. "When we're faced with adversity, you can either use that to your advantage or it will be to your disadvantage. I decided that I was going to use it to my advantage and I was still going to be very positive, because one race doesn't define me.
"I wasn't skating badly. That's the thing. I was skating well. It's just one of those things that happens, so I just had to dust that one off."
The tumble resulted in a quick relegation to the B group, in which she competed for all of one race — a first-place finish.
Back in the A group, she soon surged toward her first World Cup medal — a silver in the women's 500m on Nov. 17 in Stavanger, Norway.
"It was awesome," Hudey says. "Last year, I had so many fourth-place finishes. I was close to the podium but I just never got there.
"Coming into this year, my whole mindset was that I had such a great year last year. I made these improvements and I was super-consistent. I just wanted to keep the ball rolling coming into this year.
"This year has been a little bit more challenging for me than other years. I've had a few more things to deal with. It has been a little bit more up and down, I guess you could say, but all in all I've been making really good improvements.
"I knew I would get that medal some time. I didn't know when, but I knew at some point I was going to get it, and it was really exciting to get it in the fall."
The excitement was shared by Regina-born national-team cohort Kali Christ, who is also poised to compete in her second successive Winter Olympics.
"Watching Marsha grow over the last four years, I was so happy to be at the World Cup in Norway with her for her first individual medal," Christ says. "It was so exciting.
"She's such a nice person and she works so hard and it's so great to see her doing so well and getting that recognition. It is awesome."
The same description applies to Hudey's first Olympics, held in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
"It was incredible," says Hudey, who finished 31st in the 500m. "That was an incredible year because my dad (Brad Hudey) actually coached me that year, too. I had never made the team (before) and so he coached me to those first Olympic Games, so that was extremely special in itself. I had to work really hard to make that team so I'll never forget Sochi.
"This time around, it's just a little bit different. It's still very exciting, but I guess I know a few more things. Physically and everything, I've developed, but also just as a person."
In addition, she has benefited from four years of experience.
"I was a rookie on that team and there were still quite a few veteran skaters who had been to the (2010) Vancouver Games ahead of me, and even Torino (in 2006)," recalls Hudey, who is now coached by Kevin Crockett.
"I was just very wide-eyed, I guess, about the whole experience. I didn't know what to expect and what to do. Because I was training on my own, I was part of this team but I was doing my own thing at the same time, so it was a bit of a shock."
Four years later, it wouldn't be a shock to see Hudey finish among the leaders in Pyeongchang, South Korea, considering that she has already ascended to the World Cup podium.
"The expectations I have for myself are to skate as consistently as I have been skating," she says. "I know that when it comes to the top 10 girls in the world, it can be anyone's medal on any day. I'm just looking to bring the best that I can bring."
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