Moncton celebrates hometown Olympic medallist

Hundreds of fans had a chance to meet Olympian Courtney Sarault in Moncton, N.B., over the weekend.

A snowy Saturday in early spring wasn’t enough to keep hundreds of fans away from the chance to meet a hometown hero.

Olympic short-track speedskater Courtney Sarault met and took pictures with fans who celebrated her achievements at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games for nearly two hours Saturday outside the Avenir Centre. She also dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff ahead of the Moncton Wildcats final home game of the season later in the afternoon.

Sarault took home four medals at her second Olympic games, two silver and two bronze.

Ahead of Saturday’s celebrations, Sarault visited schools in the area and her former skating team. She says wearing all her Olympic hardware for a week isn’t easy.

“My favourite comment when anyone holds one, it’s like, ‘oh my gosh, it’s so heavy,’” Sarault says. “The four on my neck is definitely a workout every day when I have those on, but I love it. I’m blessed to have that.”

The 25-year-old was one of Canada’s stars of the winter games and became a household name in her home province. Sarault let Canadians know where she came from every chance she got during interviews. She says being from Moncton and New Brunswick – a province that only sent a handful of athletes to the games – is a source of pride.

“I know that maybe little kids watching if they hear that I’m from Moncton, New Brunswick, I could inspire my own community,” says Sarault.

“I just kind of wanted to make a point of letting people know that I was a Maritimer.”

Sarault says a lot has changed since becoming an Olympic medalist and it can be overwhelming but she is grateful for the support and love she receives from her home province.

“From what I’ve heard, I’ve been inspiring a few people to pick their skates back up,” says Sarault. “It doesn’t even have to be sport related. I had someone tell me that they feel like they could make it somewhere big with music and they were always kind of concerned that Moncton was too small to do that. I showed that we can be a force on the world stage and we can do something really great.”

Isaac Do, a young speed skater with the Codiac Cyclones, was one of the people Sarault inspired. He got the chance to meet his hero, get her autograph and take a picture with her when she visited the club.

“It’s really been amazing,” says Do, who has been skating for seven years. “Seeing somebody that fast that was in New Brunswick is really something cool.”

Jonathan Henrey won a pair of bronze medals at the Special Olympic World Winter Games that also took place in Italy. He says Sarault is an inspiration and the two of them skated together once.

“The medals around her neck is so awesome,” says Henrey after taking a picture with Sarault. “Seeing her on TV, watching her and cheering her on. She is a great teammate and I’m so proud of her.”

Sarault’s success is already having an impact for the sport in her province. Every four years when the games roll around, officials say interest in the sport picks up but this year it has been bigger because of Sarault. Codiac Cyclones President Sandrine Mallais says Sarault became so popular with the speed skating community that some kids were crying with excitement to meet her.

“We have a lot of emails that people want to try out the speed skating,” she says. “We see a lot of excitement and we see a lot of people that want to come and try the long blade skates.”

Sarault says she doesn’t take her responsibilities as a role model lightly. She has a message for young skaters.

“I’ve just been trying to tell them to have that positive self-talk and kind of maybe treat themselves how they would treat someone that they love,” says Sarault.

“I hope that they treat their self with a lot of love and a lot of grace, because it’s not easy doing hard things. To get somewhere great, there’s going to be struggle no matter what.”

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