ISU

International Women’s Day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate and recognize achievements of women in the Ice Skating world. In the following lines, we will focus on four women coaches who are paving the way for future generations.

At the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN), women represented 45 per cent of athletes, and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (FRA) will make history as the first Olympic Games to reach full gender equality in terms of athletes. Although Paris 2024 will break new ground, a real gender gap still exists today in the sport industry, where the number of women holding leadership roles remains remarkably low. In Beijing, only 10 per cent of coaches were women.

"As a woman you bring something different" says Short Track coach Annie Sarrat

Annie Sarrat @KNSB

Short Track Speed Skating is fortunate to boast a plethora of brilliant female talent and renowned coach Annie Sarrat is certainly at the top of that list.

I love making the difference in a skater's life, that's the thing that drives me the most in my work.

Says Sarrat who has played a major role in the development of elite skaters in Canada, her native France and now the Netherlands.

It is important for kids and young female skaters to have feminine role models on whom they can rely on and look at.

Annie Sarrat coaches Team Netherlands @KNSB

As a woman, you bring something different and it is very important for me to support this as a female high-level coach.

Sarrat has certainly done that. A key figure in the history of the famous Canadian skating club of Pointe-aux-Trembles, the early training ground for recent Olympic champions Steven Dubois and Pascal Dion, Sarrat’s was awarded Canadian skating’s highest honor, the Coaches Award of Excellence, back in 2006. Now assistant coach to the powerhouse Dutch team who have already enjoyed an extraordinary season so far, Sarrat is having a significant and sustained impact on Short Track worldwide.

Annie Sarrat interacts with Jens van't Wout (NED) and coach Niels Kerstholt @KNSB

The award-winning coach has a simple but inspiring final message for any young girls:

Pursue your dreams, anything is possible.

 Cathy Reed (JPN), Figure Skating coach, pursues her dream after her competitive career

Cathy Reed poses during the World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2023 in Calgary (CAN) @TanjaFlade

Cathy Reed, a two-time Olympian in Ice Dance competed with her late brother Chris representing Japan. She never had a doubt she wanted to become a coach and choreographer following her competitive career and she got started immediately when she retired from competing in 2015.

It's a really strong passion and another dream of mine and another goal of mine after my competitive career.

Cathy Reed and Chris Reed (JPN) skate during the ISU World Team Trophy in Japan @GettyImages 

Reed had been training in the USA, but she moved to Japan to start her coaching career.

I'm constantly learning, constantly being inspired, constantly trying to do something different and new and inspire a new generation and I’m always excited to come to work.

She loves the creativity and versatility of her work.

I think the most precious thing is to see the smile on my students' faces, to see them happy, to see them get good results and improve.

She currently coaches a novice team and a junior team and went with the juniors to the recent ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships. Additionally, Reed is coaching Single and Pair Skaters, working on their skating skills and choreographing programs. It was not always easy, she admits.

It was challenging. Things that I would think that would come naturally to me don't come naturally to some students. And so I had to think in different ways on how to approach skaters to make them understand and to make them learn.

But I think becoming a coach has made me grow and learn more as a person, as a coach, as a mentor.

Originally, Cathy wanted to coach with her brother and dance partner Chris, but he passed suddenly in March 2020.

I had a dream to be working with Chris in Japan, and so even though he passed, like, I still want to continue that dream and suggest to other future coaches that even though you retire, you quit your own amateur career, there's still so much to do in Figure Skating, there's still so much to teach, give back and to help the sport grow more. There are endless possibilities.

Reed hopes that many more young women will choose a coaching career.

Yes, it's a lot of work and it takes a lot out of you, but deep down, it's all I ever want to do and all I ever wanted to teach and inspire.

 Speed Skating coach, Edel Therese Høiseth (NOR) follows her heart

Edel Therese Hoiseth and Ragne Wiklund (NOR) during the 2023 ISU World Speed Skating Championships 2023 in Heerenveen (NED) @GettyImages

Edel Therese Høiseth (NOR) joined the Norwegian national Speed Skating team back in 2014. Having been a successful Speed Skater herself, she collected a ton of World Cup silverware as a competitive Speed Skater between 1985 and 2002. Winning silver at the World Sprint Championships marked the highlight of her career in 1996.

I quit in 2002 and I started coaching at local clubs.

Edel Therese Hoiseth (NOR) competes during the ISU World Cup Salt Lake City (USA) @GettyImages

Høiseth worked hard and educated herself in coaching and always followed her heart.

I love Speed Skating, I like traveling, I like coaching and working with talented athletes, who really want to develop themselves. There’s a great atmosphere in the Speed Skating world, so it was an easy choice.

In 2011 Høiseth started coaching the Norwegian national junior team and three years later she joined the Norwegian national senior team. She’s been an instrumental part of the Norwegian coaching staff ever since and she enjoys it.

We have a very good team, a mix of young athletes and some more experienced athletes. They work hard together. There’s a really good atmosphere with good coaches: Bjarne Rykkje (NED), Jeremy Wotherspoon (CAN) and Jonas Bekken (NOR). So it’s a privilege for me to be part of the team.

Edel Therese Hoiseth coaches during the 2018 ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships in Amsterdam (NED) @GettyImages

Yet, as a female coach Høiseth still is an exception in Speed Skating and across many sports. Despite the increased gender balance among athletes at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, only 10 percent of accredited coaches at the Olympic Summer and Winter Games over the past decade have been women. Does Høiseth have an explanation?

I always get the same question in Norway. We have the same problem in Norway in different sports. I think sometimes the women have to step up and try to take their place.

The Norwegian Olympic committee runs specific educational programs aimed at female coaches or aspiring female coaches, which Høiseth has attended too and she strongly encourages women to follow her footsteps:

Women should just really do it. If you work hard, it will happen.

Synchronized Skating coach, Marilyn Langlois (CAN) leads groups of women to success

Marylin Langlois

As a Synchronized Skating coach, the youngest of the ISU disciplines, Marilyn Langlois (CAN) leads large groups of women to success.

Langlois started skating at the age of 5 and fell in love with Synchronized Skating at 11. She tried to navigate between Single Skating and Synchronized Skating until she turned 17. Langlois finally chose Synchronized Skating as her main discipline and joined Les Suprêmes (CAN) when she was 20 and competed with the Team until the age of 27.

Once Langlois hung up her competitive skates, she turned to coaching. She wanted to continue to share her passion for the sport with young athletes. From Novice to Senior, Langlois has played an important role in the development of hundreds of Synchronized Skaters over the years.

Marylin Langlois coaches during the Wolrd Junior Synchronized Skating Championships 2022 in Innsbruck (AUT) @Theresa Marka

Langlois contributed to the growth and success of Les Suprêmes over the years. After two seasons in and out of Covid-19 restrictions, coaching through online training sessions, her hard work finally paid off when she led the Canadian team to its first World Championship title in 2022 and first podium finish since 2003. It was a moment the skaters will never forget, not because of their success, but because of the shared experience, passion and joy they felt during the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2002 that took place at home in Hamilton (CAN).

Team Les Suprêmes (CAN) pose during the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in Hamilton (CAN) @ISU

Langlois’ ambition is to continue developing the sport both in the Junior and Senior levels and for the sport to continue to grow and increase its popularity with the ultimate goal for the sport to be considered as an Olympic discipline.

I hope to inspire young women to take ownership by coaching, developing and increasing the popularity of Synchronized Skating.